


The Last Airbender: Season Three

by half_sour_saffitz



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Screenplay/Script Format, Season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 47,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25101406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/half_sour_saffitz/pseuds/half_sour_saffitz
Summary: ATLA third season rewrite/reimagining -- to me, the characters from this series are beautifully crafted. They are so rich and deep that they can experience and confront so much more than they are given in season three of the show. I hope to preserve some of our collective favorite moments ("that's rough, buddy," "what a sharp outfit, Chan") while adding more depth to the philosophical problems that Aang and others deal with.This story is for the characters we love who deserved more: for Toph, for Zutara, for Tyzula, and for Aang, who's spiritual and ethical considerations deserve more attention and validation.I hope you guys like it, and I hope that you find it true to the characters and story we all love.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Aang/OC, Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Toph/OC, Zuko/Mai
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	1. S3E1: The Return

**Season 3: Episode 1 -- "The Return"**

**Scene 1**

[The cosmic spirit dimension: The ground is soft but solid, possibly made of light, possibly made from the fabric of spirits that rule this dimension. Soft purple light illuminates Aang in traditional monk garb, eyes closed, lotus position. He is seated on a shimmering disk that holds him aloft in this cosmic place. His tattoos shimmer, but do not glow with the power of the Avatar State. He breathes three times as the camera centers on his face alone. Letting out the third breath, he opens his eyes and smiles. 

When Aang opens his eyes, his past lives mirror him. Roku sits closest, behind him is Kyoshi and Kuruk, behind them Yangchen and stretching out into infinity are all the rest. They mimic their current iteration -- hands clasped, legs crosses, eyes closed. Like Aang, they seem not so much lit by the purple light but made of it.]

**Aang:** Roku … Something happened in Ba Sing Se… 

[Roku remains impassive, as if he cannot hear the boy.]

**Aang:** Roku -- [Aang reaches out to his previous life. For a moment, Roku’s eyes snap open. Aang’s heart sinks for the wise man’s face is stern, harsh, angry even. Then, even more disturbing than a mentor’s displeasure, Roku begins to dissolve. Like mist before the morning sun, Roku disappears..]

**Aang:** [Alarmed, Aang turns to the life before Roku, the tall and imposing Kyoshi, in her signature make up.] Kyoshi! 

[Just like Roku, Kyoshi wakes at the sound of her name. Just like Roku, Kyoshi is dismayed to see Aang. Just like Roku, Kyoshi dissolves.

Aang leaps to his feet, but this only accelerates the process. The waterbending Avatar Kuruk opens his eyes without being called. It is possible that he appears more sympathetic than the others, but this is almost more upsetting. What do they know that has been kept from their current embodiment? Kuruk dissolves without offering an explanation. 

Yangchen, the wisest Avatar in recent history, opens her eyes as Aang steps towards her. Like Aang, her tattoos shimmer. Her expression is the most alarming so far, for the airbender -- who achieved enlightenment, serenity, and tranquility -- is unquestionably fearful.]

**Aang:** Where are you going? 

[The Firebending Avatar before Yangchen dissolves, then the earthbending Avatar before him, and the waterbender before her and so on, at a quickening pace. Aang begins to run, but they disappear as quickly as he can move. He is sprinting towards ever increasing ranks of Avatars that vanish. Suddenly the ephemeral substance that holds him upright is gone and Aang is falling. 

As he falls, lightning cracks around him, through him. Electricity burns like acid through his body, piercing his skin, escaping his mouth, exploding in his eye sockets. ] 

**Scene 2**

[Eastern Air Temple -- interior: The mortal boy wakes up screaming. He is on solid ground, wrapped in blankets, next to Appa, lit by soft sunlight streaming in from outside but in the seconds after he wakes he is sure that he is in the dark -- not purple but green, just moments removed from the devastating injury inflicted by the fire princess. Slowly he is able to take in his surroundings and the safety they suggest. He runs a hand over his head feeling stubble prickle his palm. He feels a tightness over his whole body, but concentrated on his back. 

Appa rolls his huge head to regard Aang. The behemoth offers a low groan in comfort. Aang stretches out of hand to touch Appa’s soft fur. He is able to better control his breathing. Appa offers Aang the greatest relief, but no answers. How they are here -- in what appears to be the large open chamber of an air temple -- is a mystery. The last few months seem as unreal as the lifetime before entering the ice. The only thing that is real is Appa -- and the lightning that Aang can still feel. 

A patter of footsteps precede Katara as she rushes in through the door. Aang nearly cries to see her, and gulps back a few breaths. Katara is here, Katara is real … Katara is hurt. There is no getting around it, Katara looks rough. Her hair is unbound and ratty. Deep circles underscore her eyes. Has she donned armwraps like a tribe warrior or are those bandages? Aang is unable to fully assess the damage his friend has undergone as she kneels next to him and encircles him in a hug. He can only respond by holding her tighter. 

**Katara:** Aang! You’re awake! 

**Aang:** Katara? [He is still confused, the vision of the Avatars disappearing seemed so real, realer than waking up in an air temple.] What … happened? 

**Katara:** [She sits back on her heels, winds a strand of hair around her finger, and tries to think of the best way to explain all that has transpired since Azula’s assassination attempt. She knows Aang must be told of the grimmer details, and, from her appearance alone, there must be some grim details. But she decides to focus on the positive for the moment.] We escaped Ba Sing Se. [This is the best news that can be shared, though considering that Ba Sing Se was a place of relative safety before Aang was struck, perhaps this is not good news overall.] The spirit water healed you -- [Katara’s voice breaks away as she remembers how close to death Aang was.] And now we’re camping at the Eastern Air Temple. We’ve been here… for a few weeks.

**Aang:** A few weeks!?

[A sudden explosion shakes the chamber and Aang’s distress is replaced with the more acute stress of being under attack. Aang pushes himself to his feet with his staff, nearly falls over, but rights himself. He is conscious enough to witness Katara -- graceful, athletic -- rise clumsily from the floor. It does not escape his attention that she closes her eyes and breathes sharply through her nose.]

**Aang:** You’re hurt! [Aang offers his arm, though his physical limitations must be greater.]

**Katara:** I’m fine. A few broken ribs. Not a big deal.

**Aang:** But… [Aang is confused, Katara is a master healer. Surely broken ribs are within her range.]

**Katara:** Come on, Sokka and Toph will want to see you up. 

[Katara leads the way onto a courtyard. Aang tries to rush to the source of the fighting, but overexerts himself within three steps and must rely on Katara, broken ribs and all, to help him walk. Thankfully, Sokka and Toph are not far. The embrace him]

**Sokka:** Aang!

**Toph:** Twinkletoes!

[Like Katara, Sokka and Toph have seen better days. Sokka bears a half-healed scar under his left eye that causes him to squint. His right arm is tied with a sling to his torso. Toph’s left hand is covered in the puckered pink skin of a burn scar. She has grown out her bangs to fully cover her eyes, the rest of her hair has been clumsily cut short. Aang is very disturbed to see his friends like this, though they are only joyous to see him. Another explosion rocks the temple.] 

**Toph:** [sighs] I got it.

**Katara:** [putting a hand on Toph’s shoulder, with a determined glint in her blue eyes] I’ll do it. I haven’t knocked a Firebender back in a while.

**Aang:** Firebenders?! [He sways where he stands.]

**Sokka:** It’s okay, buddy. [Sokka guides Aang to a nearby bench.] Some random Fire Army contingent. They don’t have the technology to get to us -- not after Toph sheared off the cliffs. 

**Toph:** Maybe they’re hoping a really strong breeze lifts one of their missiles up here -- but otherwise we’re as safe as can be.. 

[Another explosion rocks the foundation, underscoring how much they are keeping from Aang.]

**Aang:** We’re surrounded?

[Silence answers his question.]

**Aang:** So let’s get Appa and get out of here.

**Sokka:** [holding out his hands to calm Aang before he even begins] Appa needs to rest. He’s going to be fine -- but he got hurt on the way here. But it’s okay, we have time. [Contrary to his words, Sokka glances anxiously in the direction Katara went.]

**Aang:** [Becoming frustrated with the lack of information] What. Happened.

**Sokka:** [sighs, sits down next to Aang] Long story short, we had to fight our way out of the Earth Kingdom. It’s not good, Aang. Most of the territory is in Fire Nation control. We dropped the Earth King with the remnants of General How’s army in the Gaoling Mountains. Restocking supplies in Tero, we got ambushed. Katara and I got hurt. 

**Toph:** [bursts as if keeping a terrible secret] I’m sorry, Aang! It was my fault that Appa got hurt -- I’m not the best driver. [She flexes her burned hand.] 

**Sokka:** [kindly, but firmly disagreeing] You were the only one awake! And you were in the air -- how could you have… [Sokka drifts off, shaking his head. To Aang he says:] You, me, and Katara were out; Toph got Appa in the air.

**Toph:** But we were spotted by a Fire Nation ship in Chameleon Bay and I… [Toph drifts off, it almost seems like she might cry. And of course, Toph Beifong cannot abide tears, so she fights them instead of continuing to speak.] 

**Sokka:** A missile glanced off Appa, [Sokka clearly doesn’t want to be saying what he’s saying. He looks at Toph with pain in his eyes.] Toph’s hand got burnt and -- and her--

**Toph:** It’s not a big deal. [Toph flicks a hand to dismiss Sokka. In the same moment, the wind catches her hair, blowing it away from her face and exposing a bandage wrapped around her head, over her right eye.]

**Aang:** Your eye!? [He gets to his feet.]

**Toph:** I was already blind! My eye wasn’t doing me much good, even when it was in my head.

[Aang freezes, as if he has been encased in ice again. Because skipping the next one hundred years would be easier than accepting the pain his friends have endured while he was out. It is inexcusable that they suffered while he slept -- that they suffered _because_ he slept. It is the responsibility of the Avatar to keep the world safe, and Aang cannot even keep his friends safe.]

**Aang:** I’m gonna go blow those soldiers back to the Fire Nation. [Aang flips his staff to make his point.]

**Sokka:** No! They don’t know that you’re up here. We need to keep it a secret.

**Aang:** What? 

**Sokka:** The Fire Nation announced that you were killed. For the moment, this is just a low rank company looking for some glory, trying to scoop up the Avatar’s companions. 

**Aang:** The world thinks I’m _dead_ ? _Again_?

**Sokka:** I know it’s hard, Aang. But it’s our biggest advantage right now. If they knew the truth, we’d be surrounded by the Fire Navy in the morning. This at least buys us some time.

[Aang’s body reacts to this information. He curls up tight in anger, then lets it out, driving a crack in the floor and toppling a nearby statue. Tears begin to pool in his eyes.]

**Aang:** I… I… I have to … 

[Katara reenters the scene.] 

**Katara:** You have to get better. [Her voice is calm, firm, and in control.] We all do. For the moment, we’re safe, we have food and water -- and I think I disabled their catapult. We should be able to get some sleep.

**Sokka:** You go. I’m gonna do a perimeter check. 

[Katara smiles and embraces Aang again. She kisses him lightly on the cheek before retiring. Aang’s cheeks glow red, but it isn’t the rosy hue of shy infatuation. Something has changed. This reaction is colored with guilt.]

[Toph follows Katara inside, presumably to sleep as well, even though it is early afternoon. Sokka heads off to the edge of the temple]

**Aang:** What should I do? 

**Sokka:** [over his shoulder] Rest!

**Scene 3**

[Fire Nation palace -- exterior: Volcanic ash billowing in the background, overlaid with the voices of the two elderly, female heralds.]

**Heralds:** Your princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom’s capital. In Ba Sing Se, she found her brother, Zuko, and together they faced the Avatar -- and the Avatar fell! And the Earth Kingdom fell! Azula’s agents quickly overtook the entire city. They went to Ba Sing Se’s great walls and they brought them down. The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the walls and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory. Now the heroes have returned home. Your princess, Azula. And after three long years, your prince has returned, Zuko. 

[Azula steps out first to greet the crowds. She is clearly accustomed to this type of fanfare, expects it even. She smiles regally at the cheering subjects on the ground below. Zuko follows her after a moment in the shadows. Then he sets his face and joins his sister, taking his spot opposite her. He hears the crowd roar his name. He does not smile.]

[Cut to: the hallway outside the throne room. Zuko breathes deeply and clenches his fists. The red curtain, emblazoned with the Fire Nation emblem, shifts. Azula lets herself out of the chambers.] 

**Azula:** Your turn. [Why is she always so amused? What does she know that Zuko doesn’t?]

[Zuko breathes deeply and enters the throne room. His father sits, shadowed by flames. Zuko bows before him. The camera zooms in on Ozai, and for the first time, we see his face.] 

**Ozai:** Welcome home… my son. 

**Scene 4**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior, courtyard: Aang sits in front of three statues of wise, long-dead monks and meditates. He breathes evenly in and out. Momo bounds around.] 

**Aang:** [murmuring softly] Roku… Kyoshi… Kuruk… Yangchen… speak to me! [A beat, Aang opens one eye, sees only Momo, and sighs. He pats Momo on the head. He settles back into position, straightening his back, and breathes purposefully in and out.]

[An anguished but soft cry reaches Aang’s ears. He hops to his feet, grabs his staff, and rushes toward the noise. Rounding a corner, he has to take a break to catch his breath, there he sees Sokka, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of a pile of rocks near the edge of the cliff, crying into his hand. Aang can’t remember the last time he saw Sokka cry, but he is certain he has never seen this before -- Sokka’s shoulders heave, his face is red, and his eyes are twisted shut. Aang approaches slowly. He sits on the ground next to Sokka and puts his hand on his shoulder. Sokka pretends to be embarrassed but isn’t able to stop the flow of tears long enough.]

**Scene 5**

[Fire Nation palace -- interior, throne room: Ozai has stepped in front of the flames. Zuko remains on his knees as before.]

**Ozai:** You have done well, Prince Zuko. These past three years have taught you much. When you left here, you were young, naive, and impudent. You return a man, victorious and loyal.

**Zuko:** Yes, father. 

**Ozai:** It must have been hard for you, to imprison the uncle that watched over you since you left. 

[There is a long silence. Zuko realizes that he is expected to answer.]

**Zuko:** No, Father. He was a traitor. I was doing my duty. 

**Ozai:** I’ve long known my brother has a treacherous heart. It is why your grandfather selected me to rule after him, instead of my older brother. I am glad to see Iroh did not sway you during your time together. 

**Zuko:** No, Father. I am always loyal to my country. 

**Ozai:** That has been shown beyond a shadow of a doubt. Our people will sing your name for hundreds of years. Zuko, the prince that slayed the Avatar.

[Zuko tries to hide in his shock.]

**Ozai:** Azula told me how, at the moment of his greatest power, you knocked the boy out of the sky to his death. She says she was impressed by your decisiveness and ferocity. I am proud of you. You have restored your honor.

**Scene 6**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior, cliffside: Aang and Sokka sit next to the unmoved pile of boulders. Sokka has calmed down.]

**Aang:** Do you want to talk about it?

[Sokka wipes his eyes with the back of his good hand.] 

**Sokka:** I’m fine. It’s just, with the broken shoulder, I can’t be as useful fighting these guys. You and Toph and Katara can bend and hit them from a distance. I’m never going to be able to do that.

**Aang:** Sokka, you’re the bravest warrior I know. Bending or not doesn’t have anything to do with that. Plus, you’re our brains -- and our funny bone!

**Sokka:** [Gets to his feet] I don’t think my jokes are bad enough to kill Fire Nation from here. I’ll go get Toph. 

**Aang:** Why? You’ve got an Earthbender right here! What are we aiming for?

[Sokka is hesitant to send Aang into any fighting.]

**Sokka:** This company seems to only have one of those crawling tanks. They set it up -- there. 

[Sokka and Aang hang their heads over the cliff face. Aang can see that Toph has sheared off the sides of the temple, like Sokka said. It is as if the mountain rock was made of sand, and Toph sliced an even circle away from the outside. Aang can see the corridors and balconies that now led to nowhere. Though it makes him sad to see remains from his people swept away, he is impressed with Toph’s power and knows that this is what had to be done.] 

[At the bottom of the cliff, uniformed soldiers are indeed setting up a tank with four spiky wheels, that we have seen climb ninety degree angles before. From the viewpoint at the base of the cliff, Aang and Sokka’s heads are featureless, smaller than a pinky finger.]

**Aang:** [cracking his knuckles -- he is excited to have something concrete to do] All, right, stand back. 

[Aang adopts an earthbending stance and reaches out for the boulder at the top of the pile. It wobbles and lifts an inch. Aang is visibly sweating, pouring all of his concentration into one stone. The rock topples over the side and down to the ground far, far below. Aang puts his hands on his knees and gulps in breaths. Off screen, at the bottom of the cliffs, excited, angry voices can be heard.]

**Aang:** Did I get ‘em?

**Sokka:** [Peering over side] Umm, maybe the rock rolled into their lunch? 

**Aang:** [sighs] Okay, let’s get Toph. 

**Scene 7**

[Fire Nation palace -- interior, throne room: Zuko remains on the floor. Ozai stands before him.] 

**Ozai:** Rise. 

[Zuko gets to his feet, but struggles to meet his father’s eyes.]

**Ozai:** I was deeply saddened when you departed, Zuko. 

[Zuko wants to point out that he didn’t leave on his own accord, but he holds his tongue. This man is not his uncle, and unlike Iroh, Ozai will accept no talking back.]

**Ozai:** Since you were born, I have felt a great sense of destiny surrounding you -- you and your sister. Three years ago, I wondered if I had made a mistake. Or if your mother had coddled you too much. But standing before me now I see a man. 

**Zuko:** Thank you, Father. 

**Ozai:** You are on the road to greatness, just as I, and all Firelords before me have been. We have the divine right to rule, Zuko. It is filled with hard choices and momentous endeavors, but it is in our blood. We have many difficult roads ahead of us as we end this war -- destroying the Avatar was an important step. At the end of this summer, when Sozin’s comet arrives, we will take another step in that journey. I am glad to have you by my side. 

[Zuko bows and exits the throne room. Outside, his posture sags and he breathes noisily, before quickly walking down the hall. As he exits, we see Azula hiding behind a pillar. She has heard everything and she is not pleased.]

**Scene 8**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior, courtyard: the sun is setting. Aang tries to meditate again, but is overcome with the same images of being struck by lightning. Aang persists and, with great effort, manages to make his tattoos flicker with the power of the Avatar State. However, exhaustion quickly overtakes him and he is forced to stop his attempts.]

[Aang gets up, takes Momo on his shoulder and finds Toph and Sokka at the cliffside. Toph shifts a huge boulder over the cliffside. Far off screams are heard.] 

**Toph:** I can do this all day!

**Aang:** Can I ask you guys something? 

**Sokka:** Aim slightly to the left this time, Toph. Yeah, Aang, what’s up? 

**Aang:** Why are you all still so injured? Did something happen to Katara’s healing powers?

**Toph:** Katara did heal us. After my eye got burned out [Toph emphasizes this point by launching a fist sized rock over the side], she stopped the bleeding and healed the skin. Same with the burn and Sokka’s shoulder and Sokka’s huge face disfigurement. 

**Sokka:** It is not a disfigurement!

**Toph:** I think it makes you look dashing!

**Sokka:** Thanks! Wait… 

**Aang:** But I’ve never seen Katara leave a scar before. 

**Toph:** What do you want? [She shrugs.] Katara has to heal all of us, herself, and fight off Fire Nation attacks. And everyday she would try to heal you. 

**Sokka:** When we were escaping the Earth Kingdom, Katara was the one who held us together. After Toph and Appa got hurt … I don’t know how she did it, Aang. 

[Aang is deeply sorrowful. He sinks to the ground.]

**Aang:** It’s all my fault. 

**Sokka:** Don’t blame yourself. Katara said Azula pulled some dirty tricks when you were fighting. We’ll just be smarter the next time we face her. And now that you’ve mastered the Avatar State, you’ll be sure to defeat her. 

**Aang:** Umm, yeah, about that…

[Katara appears before Aang can finish his thought.]

**Katara:** Hey guys. How is the Fire Nation doing?

**Sokka:** They’re feeling a little… rocky. 

[Deadpan expressions respond to this “joke”]

**Katara:** Toph, you should get some sleep. I can take over for now. 

**Toph:** You hear that! [She yells over the cliff.] Your worst nightmare is taking a break! But I’ll be back. You better scram before Twinkletoes is back on his twinkletoes because he’s going to make you regret every being born!

**Aang:** Wait! [Aang’s voice is nervous.] There’s something I have to tell you. [He takes a deep breath, but can’t force out the words.]

[We quickly see a clip of the spirit Avatars disappearing, then cut to Aang being struck by lighting and the light of the Avatar state dying away.]

**Katara:** What is it, Aang?

**Aang:** I umm… I … was wondering how long we’re going to be here? [He has chickened out.]

**Sokka:** Don’t worry about it. We’ve got food, there’s water. We can take all the time you need to get better. And me to get better. And Katara to get better. And then we can make them all regret every being born.

[Sokka moves inside. Katara catches Aang’s hand before he can follow Sokka. She is shy.]

**Katara:** Aang… 

**Aang:** What is it? [He drops her hand. Katara’s brow furrows for a moment then relaxes.]

**Katara:** Nothing. I’m just really glad you’re awake. 

[Aang closes his eyes -- we see a clip of the moment where Aang gave Katara up in the battle under Ba Sing Se in order to access the power of the Avatar State.]

**Aang:** [Takes Katara’s hand again] Thank you, Katara. For everything. You saved my life. You got everyone out of the Earth Kingdom. I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you enough. 

**Katara:** You don’t need to thank me. This is what we do. 

**Aang:** I was gone, wasn’t I? Really gone. 

**Katara:** I don’t know, Aang. Maybe the water from the North Pole helped your spirit stay attached to your body?

**Aang:** No! [He is very intense.] It was _you_ . You saved me and all future Avatars. It was _you_. [He turns away from Katara and speaks softly.] Guru Pathik was wrong. I should have never given you up. 

**Katara:** What? 

**Aang:** In order to access the Avatar State, the guru told me I had to give up earthly attachments and let go of my feelings for you. 

[Katara is taken aback by the simultaneous information that Aang had feelings for her, and that he has abandoned them.]

**Aang:** But now the Avatar State is gone too. You said I don’t have to thank you, or repay you for what you did… I don’t think I could if I tried. We’re not going to win, Katara. I can’t do it. 

**Katara:** Aang… you can’t think like that. You’re hurt now, but you’ll get better. We’ll all get stronger and we’ll figure out a way to end this war and take down the Firelord… [She can see that her words are having no effect on the young airbender.]

**Aang:** I hope you’re right. 

[Aang moves back inside, leaving Katara alone as the sun sets.]

At the base of the cliffs are several encampments of Fire Nation soldiers, but they do not seem to be an immediate threat. In comparison with the cliffs, these camps seem small and unable to launch a real attack. 

[The cliffs are in shadow from the setting sun. Here there are empty passages where once there would have been balconies and corridors in the lower part of the temple. In the archway of one of these passages, a shadowy figure comes to the edge, then retreats inside.]

**Scene 9**

[Fire Nation prison -- exterior: a hooded figure approaches the prison. However, before he gets to the gates he is spotted by a guard on the ramparts.]

**Guard:** Hey! You there! Who are you?

[We can see that the hooded figure is Zuko. Instead of answering the guard, Zuko turns away and departs, without revealing why he is at the stronghold.]

  
  


**Scene 10**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior: It is fully dark, the moon is high in the sky, and Katara paces back and forth at the edge of the cliff. She is very tired. She looks up at the moon, checks the silent camps down below, and moves inside to where her friends sleep. Sokka snores heavily and does not wake when Katara shakes his shoulder.]

**Toph:** Let him sleep. I can take his watch. 

**Katara:** You already took your turn. 

[Toph gets to her feet and shrugs.]

**Toph:** I feel ready for another one. 

[Toph takes her places outside. The night it still and Toph entertains herself by making tiny rock sculptures and launching them over the cliff. Behind her, the shadowy figure of a young adolescent moves silently.] 

[We zoom in on Toph’s face, where it is clear she has sensed something. Her brow furrows, then relaxes. We remain tight on Toph’s face, unable to see whom she is speaking to.]

**Toph:** Hey Twinkletoes -- gonna start pulling your weight around here? 

**Tashi:** Twinkletoes -- that’s a funny nickname. 

[Toph gasps and immediately imprisons the intruder. Tashi does not resist. We see her from behind, a girl about the age of the Avatar and his companions, dressed in hardworn traveler’s clothes, with dark shoulder length hair.]

[Toph calls for her friends who come running. Sokka, Katara, and Aang all screech to halt in shock. They are able to see what Toph cannot. For the first time the audience is able to see Tashi’s face. She has a pale blue arrow tattoo poking out from her hairline.]

**Tashi:** [smiling and unconcerned] Hi! Are you the Avatar? 

[One more shot of Aang’s shocked face and credits roll.]


	2. S3E2: The Nomads

**Season 3: Episode 2 -- "The Nomads"**

**Scene 1**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior, night: The scene opens with Aang and the kids holding their intruder -- Tashi -- captive. Tashi, dressed in traveling clothes and boasting air monk tattoos, seems unconcerned by her current state of imprisonment. On the other hand, Sokka, Toph, and Katara seem very suspicious, while Aang is nearing a violent level of anger.]

**Tashi:** Hi! Are you the Avatar?

**Aang:** Who are you?

**Tashi:** I’m Tashi. You’re Aang right? From the Southern Air Temple?

**Aang:** Why do you have the tattoos of an air monk?

**Tashi:** Same reason you do. 

[The gang is visibly shocked by what this girl is claiming.]

**Aang:** It’s not possible!

**Tashi:** They said the Avatar coming back to the world was impossible too. Yet here we are. 

**Aang:** Prove it. 

**Sokka:** She’s locked in, how could she--

[Tashi takes in a huge breath and blows Sokka’s hair back with an air blast controlled by her mouth. Sokka is displeased.]

**Aang:** Let her go. 

**Katara:** Aang, we don’t know who this girl is. 

**Toph:** Yeah, this could be some sort of trap. 

[Instead of asking again, Aang fights against Toph’s control of the stone that bounds Tashi in place. Toph struggles for a moment before she realizes what Aang is doing, and releases control. Aang is winded by the exertion. 

Tashi bows to Aang, which Aang mirrors back, as much as he is able. The pain in his back spikes]

**Aang:** Tell me everything. 

**Tashi:** You aren’t the last airbender, Aang. There are many of us.

**Scene 2**

[Fire Palace -- interior: In the halls of the Fire Nation palace, Zuko, Azula, and Ozai are served tea, surrounded by Ozai’s favorite decoration -- walls of flame.]

**Ozai:** Zuko, Azula, you have both spent time away from the capital and our nation. Tell me, what did you see out in the world? 

**Azula:** Inferiority. 

**Ozai:** How so?

**Azula:** Earthbenders claim to have dominion over the strongest element, yet they are weak. Their generals were easily captured. And their elite fighting forces -- the Kyoshi Warrior and the Dai Li -- were easily subdued through force or trickery. 

**Ozai:** Yet the Dai Le hold Ba Sing Se for us.

[Azula is taken aback. She is unused to being criticized by her father. Moreso, he makes a valid point. She recovers quickly -- lying is an in-the-moment skill.]

**Azula:** Of course not, Father. The Dai Li are but symbols. The citizens of Ba Sing Se are accustomed to fearing those agents; they help us establish control -- at least visually. Each Dai Li is watched by Fire Nation soldiers at all times. Soon we will be able to phase them out, and I will have them killed. 

**Ozai:** We shall see. 

[Zuko is uncomfortable.]

**Ozai:** And you Zuko, you have traveled the world on your hunt for the Avatar, what have you observed?

**Zuko:** Inferiority. As well. 

[Azula makes a small disparaging noise to indicate that she doesn’t find Zuko’s copycat answer impressive.]

**Zuko:** In Ba Sing Se, citizens live divided from one another, some in abject poverty. I would imagine that those in the outer rings were happy to see the wall coming down. They clamor for a change from the squalid conditions their senseless monarch imposed on them. The same is true up and down the Earth Kingdom. A few nobles hoard wealth and let their people starve. [Zuko is building up steam now.] The Water Nation is different. There, everyone is part of the same family. Everyone is housed and fed and because of that, they fight to the last man for their country. 

**Azula:** What are you saying, brother? You want us to imitate the primitive water tribe? What -- should we travel in animal hide canoes and sleep on the ground? [She looks eagerly for her father’s approval. Ozai sips tea impassively.]

**Ozai:** Your sister is confused, Zuko. Explain it more clearly. 

[Azula is outraged to be treated as intellectually inferior. Zuko is unbalanced, trying to guess what his father wants him to say.]

**Zuko:** The world is broken. 

**Ozai:** It needs a strong hand to guide it. The Air Nation had no leadership, no lord or king to lead them. It was why they were lazy, disrespectful, and undisciplined. Zuko, you have elucidated exactly why your great-grandfather Sozin began this war, and what we are trying to accomplish by ending it. Azula!

[Azula, who has been hunched over, sits up as if she has been electrocuted.]

**Azula:** Yes, Father. 

**Ozai:** Why did Sozin begin the War of Fire Nation Conquest? 

**Azula:** Because the Avatar--

**Ozai:** No! [The flames surge higher.] I would have thought your school would have taught you better. Do you care to try again? 

**Azula:** [Blank and emotionless, as if reading from a script] Fire Lord Sozin began the conquest in order to bring all four nations under one harmonious rule. The Avatar sought to keep the peoples of the world separate, disadvantaging the oppressed everywhere. 

**Ozai:** Better. And when the air nomads stood against him, he eliminated them. The cost of peace is high, but always worth paying. Do you understand this? 

**Azula:** Yes, Father. 

**Zuko:** Yes, Father. 

**Ozai:** Good. You have both proven yourself with great victories. At the end of this summer, Sozin’s Comet will pass by the earth again, and we three shall harness its power to usher in a new dawn for the world out of the ashes of the old one. All people will be one nation under the guidance of the strongest. 

**Scene 3**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior: The sun is beginning the rise. Obscured by the pre-dawn darkness and the mist of the morning, a flying bison alights on the top of the temple. Tashi runs to stroke her head.]

**Tashi:** Chorri!

[While Tashi tends to her bison, the gang meets aside.]

**Aang:** I have to go see if what she says is true. I have to see if there are other airbenders. 

**Katara:** Of course you do. This is incredible!

**Sokka:** Toph and I will stay behind and protect the temple. 

**Aang:** No! I mean, Toph, you should come. You can sense when people are lying. 

**Toph:** If they stay on the ground long enough… 

[Katara is hurt that Aang has rebuffed her company.]

**Sokka:** Fine, Katara and I will stay here. But if you don’t come back before sunset -- we’re coming after you. 

[They have no way to do this.]

**Tashi:** You guys ready? We have to make the most of this mist. 

**Aang:** No saddle? 

**Tashi:** Nope! Just you and your bison!

**Toph:** Oh great. Flying hundreds of feet above the ground and nothing to hold on to. 

**Tashi:** Why don’t you sit on Chorri’s neck, then you can hold on to me? [Tashi certainly has Aang’s normal happy-go-lucky demeanor.]

**Scene 4**

[Air nomad camp -- exterior: As the sun crests over the horizon, Tashi, Aang, and Toph alight on a mountain peak near the Eastern Air Temple. Tashi holds her finger to her lips then remembers that Toph can’t see this motion.]

**Tashi:** We should be quiet -- most people are probably still sleeping. 

**Dorje:** Tashi! [This man’s loud yell shows no consideration for people still abed. He is angry. Dorje is middle aged with salt and pepper hair and an arrow tattoo that is a dark blue, so dark it is nearly purple.]

[Tashi winces]

**Tashi:** Hey Dorje! Beautiful morning. 

**Dorje:** I expressly forbid you from investigating the temple… [Dorje’s words fade away as he catches sight of Toph and then Aang as the airbender leaps and floats down from the bison’s back.] The Avatar. [His tone is reverent, but not pleased.]

[Aang bows]

**Aang:** Good morning, Monk Dorje. 

**Dorje:** I’m no monk, boy. Stand up. Tashi, what have you done?

**Aang:** Tashi rescued us and offered us help after we were surrounded by Fire Nation--

**Dorje:** Tashi is in no position to offer help to you or anyone else. [Looking as Tashi with unbridled anger and pointing away] Go. 

**Tashi:** But--

**Dorje:** _Go!_

[Tashi, head hung low, shuffles off to the side. She takes Chorri with her. As the bison moves out of the way, we can see more curious heads coming to witness the Avatar. It becomes apparent that Dorje’s dark blue tattoo was not simply a case of off dye, but a stylistic choice. Surrounding Aang are all different interpretations of the air monk’s signature arrow. Arrows of all colors can be seen, and more than that, some have altered the designs. Some arrows are notched -- another has arrows at their temples instead of their brow, another on their throat, another boasts a two-headed arrow. Hardly anyone in attendance has a shaved head, but hair does certainly make an impression. A final difference from the traditional monk that Aang represents is their clothing. They are all clothed in frayed, patched, mismatched clothing. Here and there signature pieces from the Water, Earth, and Fire nations can be seen, however it is predominantly nondescript traveler’s clothing. Wherever these airbenders have been hiding, it is not some secret sanctuary.]

**Dorje:** Avatar. [His voice is tight, but his anger has been reigned in.] I am honored to meet you. However, I fear one of our youngest has been _overeager_. I don’t know what Tashi told you, but we are in no position to help anyone. I am sorry if you have been misled. 

**Aang:** I don’t want anything from you. I just want the truth. Who are you? How are you here?

[Dorje bows his head stiffly.]

**Dorje:** Come, eat with us. 

**Scene 5**

[Air nomad camp -- exterior: Dorje, Aang, Toph, and others from the airbending colony sit on the ground and share breakfast. Tashi has chosen a spot behind Aang, slightly sheltered from Dorje, but not far from the action. At Dorje’s right hand sits a young airbender named Rinchen (approximately Aang’s age (minus 100 years)) with a pink arrow that goes up the back of his neck but loops around the left side of his skull and ends in a point at his temple. He has long hair that shoots off in every direction, except for the side of his head with the arrow which is shaved.]

**Aang:** I don’t understand how you escaped the genocide. 

**Dorje:** A fundamental misunderstanding of Air culture by the Fire Nation. They assumed that we, like them, would remain in our fortified towers, securely within our borders. But you know, young monk, the airbender belongs to no place on the Earth, but rather to the shifting winds that sweep all land and waters.

**Aang:** Nomads. 

**Dorje:** Indeed. The Fire Nation did slay a majority of our people the day of the cursed comet. But a large number of us remained abroad as well. The Fire Nation commits violence not only unto others, but unto the annals of history. The Firelord probably tells his children every airbender was vanquished in one fell swoop. The truth is that, after the initial attack left many dead, the Fire Nation spent three years tracing out those of us who escaped. They didn’t find us all, and the survivors found one another. They are the ancestors of those that you see here. 

[Aang gazes around at the airbenders. They are of all ages, but only about twenty or thirty strong, at least in this camp. The sight brings tears to his eyes.]

**Aang:** Are… are there more? 

**Dorje:** No. [It is becoming clear that Dorje’s brusque speaking style is rooted in pain as deep as Aang’s.] This is the fullest our colony has been since the old days. We neared extinction… when I was born -- [He closes his eyes and decides to diverge from what he was going to say.] We are fortunate to have grown in numbers. [Dorje smiles fondly at the children assembled, including the pink-arrowed youth by his side and Tashi.]

**Aang:** This is so… incredible. For all this time, I thought I was the last airbender. I thought that if I died… [Aang closes his eyes, just as Dorje did moments before, unable to continue his thought.]

**Dorje:** No Avatar, you bear many burdens, but the final remainder of your people is not one of them. 

[Aang smiles as tears pool in his eyes.]

**Aang:** So what have you guys been doing? 

**Dorje:** Survival is time-consuming work, young Avatar. 

**Aang:** I didn’t mean--

**Dorje:** I wonder if you did. There has been a question on your mind since you touched down in our camp -- perhaps since you recognized Tashi’s tattoo.

[Tashi sinks down farther.]

**Aang:** Fine. [Aang is frustrated. Why is Dorje pushing him?] Where have you _been_? For a hundred years the world has believed that the Air Nation is dead. Where were you? 

**Dorje:** [Dorje is calm and seems slightly victorious that he has gotten under Aang’s skin.] We were here and there, anywhere that kept us safe. 

**Aang:** People were suffering all across the world. 

**Dorje:** That’s not a question. 

**Aang:** Why?! Why did you abandon the world?

**Dorje:** Because it’s not our way! We don’t wage war. We don’t have an army, a navy, soldiers all around the world. We’re airbenders -- and we almost died. For no crime at all. We stay hidden, we stay safe. 

[Both breathe heavily. Then the anger goes out of Aang.]

**Aang:** The monks taught me nonviolence as well. 

**Dorje:** Do not misunderstand me: We grieve for our people. We resent the powers that took them away from us and shunned us into oblivion. But it is not our role. 

**Aang:** No, I guess it’s not. It’s mine. 

[Tension sits heavy over the camp.]

**Rinchin:** Isn’t anyone going to ask how we located you at the temple? [Rinchen’s demeanor is reminiscent of Aang at times, carefree and excited to spread happiness.]

**Dorje:** [smiles ruefully] Avatar Aang, it is a great pleasure to introduce you to Rinchen. He shows prodigious skill at both airbending and the spiritual nature of our people. Rinchen, Aang. 

[Aang and Rinchen bow their heads to one another.]

**Toph:** So… How did you guys know we were at the Eastern Air Temple?

**Rinchen:** Spirit-guiding. [He smiles widely.]

**Aang:** What’s spirit-guiding?

**Rinchen:** Astral projection. You can place your spirit anywhere in the world -- human world or spirit world. I could teach you if you wanted. 

**Aang:** Yeah!

[Rinchen rises in a gust of air and settles back on the ground. Aang mirrors his movement. Before departing the clearing, Rinchen glances at Dorje, who nods his consent. When Aang and Rinchen are gone, the rest of the airbenders begin to disperse, leaving Toph behind.]

**Toph:** All right, that’s fine. Just fly away. I’ll be fine. Just a blind girl in a strange place. Totally fine. 

[Tashi approaches giggling]

**Toph:** I can see you, Lightweight! Very… faintly. 

[Trying to adopt a more serious demeanor, Tashi plants her feet on the ground.]

**Tashi:** [Imitating Toph] Sorry, Sir Stonefoot, sir! No more fun and games sir!

[Toph rises, pointing a finger at Tashi. Toph is amused.]

**Toph:** I don’t know what your deal is, but where I come from it’s rude to laugh at blind people. 

**Tashi:** [laughs] I thought I said before, you can hold on to me. 

[She extends an arm and Toph tentatively takes it and allows herself to be led out of the clearing.]

**Scene 6**

[Fire Nation prison -- exterior: Again a hooded figure, Zuko, approaches the prison fortress. He gets closer, before being accosted by a guard.]

**Guard:** You again! Get out of here unless you want your own--

[Zuko grabs him by the throat and throws him to the ground. His hood comes off, revealing his scar. His hair is down.]

**Guard:** [coughing and gasping] Prince… Prince --

**Zuko:** No one. You will let me into the interior cell block and then you will tell no one of what you saw. 

**Guard:** Yes. Yes, sir. 

[Cut to Zuko and the guard walking down a hallway lined with cells, stopping before the last one.]

**Zuko:** The keys?

**Guard:** I… Sir, I don’t think…

**Zuko:** I’ll break the door down or you can give me the keys. 

[The guard gives him the keys, bows, and departs. Zuko takes a deep breath, and lets himself into the cell. Inside the room is a metal cage. Inside the cage, Iroh sits on the dark, dank floor in filthy robes. He raises his eyes to see his visitor, then looks away without a word.]

**Zuko:** Uncle. [Zuko bows his head, out of respect or shame is unclear.]

[Iroh does not respond.]

**Zuko:** I don’t know what you expect from me. You betrayed your country. There was nothing I could do. 

[Iroh does not respond.]

**Zuko:** Do you even know my father’s plans? This war saddens him. He is trying to bring peace and prosperity -- the peace and prosperity that the Fire Nation has known for generations! -- he’s trying to bring it to the whole world! If the other nations would stop resisting… 

[Iroh does not respond.]

**Zuko:** You convinced me that my family was evil, that there was darkness in me that I had to overcome. You kept me away from my family!

[Iroh does not respond.]

**Zuko:** Fine! Don’t say anything! You’re a pathetic old man who is going to rot in this cell! [Zuko breathes heavily, as if engaged in a fight.] I don’t want anything to do with you! [Zuko turns to leave. When he is on the cell threshold, Iroh speaks.]

**Iroh:** Who killed the Avatar?

[Zuko’s fist on the doorframe clenches and he slams the cell door shut with a clang.]

**Scene 7**

[Air nomad camp -- exterior: Aang and Rinchen sit on a large, flat boulder on the edge of the mountain. They are in meditation poses, breathing together. Then Aang lets out a long breath. He is disappointed.]

**Aang:** I’m sorry, Rinchen. I … I was badly injured. I don’t think I can do this. 

**Rinchen:** [unperturbed] That’s okay! I didn’t think it was going to work on the first try. And if it did, Dorje would probably proclaim you the new prince of all things spiritual. [Rinchen wiggles his fingers and makes a ghostly noise. Aang laughs.] There’s actually another reason I brought you here. There is someone I wanted you to meet. [Rinchen peers over his shoulder] Right on time. 

[Behind Rinchen an exceedingly old man (Thok) walks slowly out of the trees. Rinchen floats over to him.]

**Rinchen:** Good morning, Master. May offer you some assistance?

**Thok:** [Irritated] I didn’t need your help yesterday and I won’t need it tomorrow! [He smiles and extends his hand to Rinchen.] But I suppose today I could make an exception. 

[Rinchen helps Thok onto the meditation area. Thok smiles at Aang.]

**Thok:** I see we have a guest this morning. 

**Aang:** If that’s okay. 

**Thok:** Souls seeking answers and peace are always welcome. Please, sit with us. I am Monk Thok. 

**Rinchen:** Monk Thok is the master of spirit-guiding. He’s blind, but he says he can see through the spirits. 

[Thok nods.]

**Aang:** My friend is also blind. She uses earthbending to see. 

**Thok:** You are as right as you are wrong. Bending is not seeing; it is communication with a realm outside of ourselves. All bending in the same, in essence. Your friend uses earthbending, while I ask the spirits directly where the outhouse is. [Thok smiles like Bumi.] Your friend is wise to avail herself of the spirits to help her see. A great many people with perfectly functioning eyeballs would gain much from doing the same. 

[Aang smiles at Rinchen who nods, acknowledging that this guy knows what’s up. Thok breathes heavily in and closes his eyes.]

**Thok:** Ahh, I see. You _are_ familiar to me. 

**Aang:** Yes, master, I’m the--

**Thok:** Favorite pupil of Monk Gyatso. [He smiles broadly as Aang is stunned into silence.] I suppose some good-natured rivalry is to be expected between the two of us. 

[Thok offers no explanation.] 

**Aang:** Why is that? 

**Thok:** [winking] I was Monk Gyatso’s first favorite pupil.

**Aang:** You knew Monk Gyatso?!

**Thok:** Indeed. Though I had the privilege of studying with him before he became a serious, revered old master. I knew Gyatso when he was an impulsive trickster, always pulling pranks on the elders. [Thok smiles at his memories.] After I completed my training with him, I sojourned to the Northern Air Temple -- I wanted to be closer to the bison herds. But I spoke with Gyatso often. He told me many fond tails of his brightest student yet -- a spirited boy named Aang. Maybe you know him? [winks again]

**Aang:** Master Thok… I don’t know what to say. 

**Thok:** Say nothing. Old timers like us gotta stick together, eh? These youngsters [nods towards Rinchen] think they know everything. They need us, Aang, their connections to their heritage. 

**Aang:** Yes, master. 

**Thok:** Now, let’s see if we can heal that bum spirit connection, eh? 

[Aang is startled and embarrassed to be called out for something he has not admitted to anyone -- especially in front of Rinchen. But Rinchen has already closed his eyes and Aang follows suit.]

**Thok:** Who do you need Aang? Let all three of us call them here.

[We cut to the clip of the Avatars disappearing in the spirit world. Then to a clip of Roku beckoning Aang forward.]

[Back to Aang: with tears in his eyes, he shakes his head.]

**Aang:** Gyatso. I need Gyatso. 

[The three meditate together. The camera pans up to the sun and back down to them. Aang peeks open an eye and sighs. He rubs his eyes.]

**Gyatso:** [From the place where Thok was sitting] Has it really been so long that you don’t recognize your old teacher? 

[Aang is overjoyed to see Gyatso. Rinchen remains close-eyed and unaffected, as if he cannot hear their conversation.]

**Aang:** Gyatso! [He jumps up to hug Gyatso -- or at least his spirit -- blue and translucent -- does. His physical body remains in place, meditating. When Gyatso stands up, Thok’s body remains behind.]

**Gyatso** : It is good to see you, Aang. I have missed you. 

**Aang:** [still hugging] I missed you too.

**Gyatso:** Come. [He leads the way to the edge of the boulder and they overlook the mountain together.] Tell me what troubles you. 

**Aang:** I don’t know what to do. I feel so lost. My connection to my past lives is gone. I can barely bend. And now there is a whole tribe of airbenders! I am not enough for all the things people expect me to do. 

**Gyatso:** What is it that they expect? 

**Aang:** To save the world!

**Gyatso:** [laughing] Forgive me, Aang. I see much of myself in you, and more of my youth. When we are young, we do feel like the entire world is on our shoulders. But trust an old man, no one expects you to save the world by yourself. 

**Aang:** Maybe that was true for you -- but I’m the _Avatar!_ It’s my job to save the world. 

**Gyatso:** Interesting, who told you that? 

**Aang:** What -- you did. 

**Gyatso:** Did I? Then I’m not a good teacher at all. If I had been a better teacher, I would have told you that your role in this life is to be the bridge between the human world and the spirit world, and thereby establish a balance in both. 

**Aang:** Okay, maybe that does sound more like what you said. But either way -- it means the same thing! Everyone expects me to kill the Firelord in a few weeks, on the day of Black Sun.

**Gyatso:** You may be an immortal reincarnation with access to the knowledge of the centuries -- but I don’t know how you became so knowledgeable about what ‘ _everyone_ ’ wants you to do. 

[Aang begins to get frustrated.]

**Aang:** The Firelord is evil! People across the world are suffering because of him. 

**Gyatso:** Ah, so then you have used your own discretion to condemn him to death. That is certainly your prerogative as Avatar. 

**Aang:** [deflates a bit] No. Not at all. I don’t want to kill anyone. I avoid causing death as much as I can. And even… even for an evil man like the Firelord, I don’t know if I could purposefully execute him. I can’t do my job. [Aang pulls his knees to his chest.]

**Gyatso:** Let us return to one of your earlier comments. You said everyone expects you to kill Lord Ozai. Do you think the monks that raised you expect this? 

**Aang:** No. You always taught me that the path of forgiveness is the path of enlightenment. 

**Gyatso:** And I believe that. What about your new friends? [Gyatso hooks a thumb at Thok and Rinchen who continue to meditate peacefully.]

**Aang:** I… I don’t know. They are angry with the Fire Nation for forcing them into hiding. But… They’ve never attacked. They live in secret. And they’re airbenders. Thok is their mentor. I don’t think he would advocate violence. 

**Gyatso:** [smiles at his old pupil] When he was a young student, Thok was both enamored with and confounded by a teaching from the earliest philosophers of our culture. They believed that violence was a perversion of the spiritual connection that is bending. His advice is certainly not a quest of murder. So who is it that has told you to end this Firelord? 

**Aang:** My… my friends. Sokka, Toph, Katara… they’ve trained me with the goal of getting me ready to fight the Firelord. 

**Gyatso:** Your friends are young to be teachers -- not that youth does not teach it’s own unique and wonderful lessons. I cannot speak for them, Aang, but I have to ask -- do you really think they view you as a weapon and nothing more? 

**Aang:** No. No, of course not. 

**Gyatso:** Then I will ask one more time: Who expects you to kill the Firelord? 

**Aang:** Me. I do. 

[Gyatso smiles like a true teacher who is celebrating a student that is able to do the work on their own.]

**Gyatso:** There is the man you must confront. _You_ are the Avatar, Aang. I never knew anyone more suited to the role than you. You have a bright spirit: kind, gentle, and powerful. Whatever you decide, Aang, it will be the right choice because the spirits were wise when they selected you to be the Avatar. 

[Aang and Gyatso sit with these words.]

**Scene 8**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior. The afternoon sun is high in the sky. Sokka uses a telescope and a stone to record the movements of the Fire Nation on the ground. Katara approaches.]

**Sokka:** Katara -- do you think those soldiers were closer to the river this morning? 

[Katara peers over the edge.]

**Katara:** I don’t know. They’ve been pretty scared of it since I flooded it yesterday -- or… two days ago?

[She sits next to him and hugs her knees to her chest.]

**Katara:** Sokka, can I talk to you about something?

**Sokka:** Yes, I think Aang looks good with hair, but baldness is his culture, you know? 

**Katara:** What? 

**Sokka:** What? Nothing. What were you going to say? 

**Katara:** I’m worried about Aang. 

**Sokka:** You worry about everybody. That’s kind of your thing. 

**Katara:** Thanks, Sokka. I guess your thing is being an insensitive jerk. [She gets to her feet.]

**Sokka:** Wait! Sorry. I’m… I’m worried about him too. Did he say something to you? 

**Katara:** [She talks to the ground, softly] He said -- he’s convinced that we’re going to lose this war. 

**Sokka:** What? Why? Just because we’re all injured and trapped at the top of the mountain and the Earth Kingdom fell to the Fire Nation? 

[Katara glares at Sokka, then cracks and grins. Sokka puts an arm around her shoulders.]

**Sokka:** I can’t imagine what Aang must be feeling right now. We’ve been through so much. And he got hurt bad. Don’t blame him if he takes a few days to recover. 

**Katara:** Yeah, you’re right. In a few days… He was probably half-delirious last night. 

**Sokka:** What happened last night? 

**Katara:** [shrugs] Nothing. You’re right. He’s under a lot of stress. We all say things we don’t mean.

**Sokka:** Like calling your beloved brother an insensitive jerk? 

**Katara:** Uhh, yeah, sure. 

**Sokka:** You’re forgiven. Come on, I’ve been thinking about the eclipse invasion. I think, if we made a few adjustments, we could still make it work. 

**Scene 9**

[Fire palace -- interior, night: Zuko stands outside a closed door, bouncing up and down in anticipation. Finally, he settles and pushes open the door. It is Azula’s bedchamber. She is in the ornate bed.] 

**Azula:** [From the bed, not opening her eyes.] Zuko. To what do I owe the pleasure? 

**Zuko:** Why did you lie?

**Azula:** I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific. 

[Zuko closes the door. Azula gets up and, relaxed as can be, shrugs into a silk robe.]

**Zuko:** [quietly] You killed the Avatar. 

**Azula:** Did I? Then you must be here to thank me. 

**Zuko:** Why did you tell them I did it? It’s not like to to give someone else credit. 

**Azula:** [switches abruptly from amused to annoyed] Don’t tell me about myself. You don’t know what is or isn’t like me. You were gone for three years, or had you forgotten?

**Zuko:** I remember everything.

**Azula:** [She is back to light and conversational] Okay. Let’s test your perfect memory. Do you remember when you were banished? 

**Zuko:** Vividly. 

**Azula:** And what did Father say when he sent you into exile? What conditions did he set up for your return?

**Zuko:** [Finds he can no longer look at her and turns away] I had to restore my honor. 

**Azula:** Exactly. Your honor. At the time, your quest to retrieve the Avatar was ridiculous -- he’d been lost for a hundred years. But I have to hand it to you, Zuzu, in hindsight… _visionary_. Of course, it didn’t have to be the Avatar. You could have done any numbers of things -- Father didn’t care. He was looking out for you -- you embarrassed yourself in front of the entire country. He knew if you didn’t redeem yourself, you would never be respected in the Fire Nation again. 

[Zuko seethes.]

**Azula:** You could have killed that ridiculous Earth Lord -- Bumi, or whatever his name is. You could have discovered where those cowards in the Northern Water Tribe were hiding. Father didn’t care what you did, as long as it was _something_ . [She throws her hands up in exasperation. She seems genuinely distressed, something Zuko didn’t know she could feel.] So remind me. What heroic act did you commit during the Capture of Ba Sing Se? Was it when you attacked me in the palace? Or was it when you got yourself thrown in prison for a few days? Oh, I know, it must have been when I apprehended our traitorous uncle and you cried and wasted time! I _gave_ you the last waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe on a silver platter and you did _nothing!_ Like _always!_ So I had to. 

[Zuko reels with this new information.]

**Zuko:** That would have constituted honor? Killing a fourteen year old girl? 

**Azula:** Not as much as killing the Avatar. So I did it. And I gave you the honor you’ve been searching for for three years. Because you’re right -- I’m not selfless. I do things because I want to do them. And I decided it was time for you to come home. 

[Azula sits down hard in an armchair. Her legs are curled under her and she grips the arm rests tightly. Zuko sinks to the ground and plays with a loose thread in the rug.]

**Zuko:** I … I thought you were glad when I left. 

[Azula glares out the window, her eye twitches. It's exactly what Zuko does when he's trying to resist tears.]

**Zuko:** And… I didn’t think about how my banishment broke our family for you too. I didn’t think about how hard my leaving would be for you. 

**Azula:** Well, it was. [Azula says this quickly, like a secret.]

**Zuko:** [takes a deep breath] Did you talk to Uncle on the way home? 

**Azula:** I spoke to him. He didn’t speak back. Why? Did he say something to you? 

**Zuko:** [focused again on the thread] No. I couldn’t face him. 

**Azula:** It’s for the best. [She awkwardly pats Zuko on the head as she makes her way to the door.] Uncle led you astray. But now you’re back where you belong. 

**Zuko:** Did you see Katara? She took the Avatar’s body. 

**Azula:** Who’s Katara? 

**Zuko:** The waterbender. 

**Azula:** Oh. So what? She was… grieving. [Azula doesn’t seem to know the meaning of this word.]

**Zuko:** [Zuko pops like a shaken soda can] What if she wasn’t? She’s a healer. She had special spirit water. What if she healed him? 

**Azula:** [This is ridiculous to Azula] She might be able to mend scrapes and bruises, but no healer in the world can undo the damage from a lightning strike. Does he even have a body left to heal? Or does it dissolve into the cosmic blah blah blah. 

**Zuko:** [Very serious, concerned that Azula has made a mistake based on misinformation] Azula -- if the Avatar is killed in the Avatar State then… he doesn’t come back. The cycle is broken. Forever. 

[Azula’s smile is true and untroubled.]

**Azula:** Perfect!

**Zuko:** But what if he’s not dead!?

[As Zuko’s anxiety reaches its zenith, Azula’s fades to non-existence, if it ever existed at all. Her brief fling with vulnerability is over.]

**Azula:** Then that would be a real problem for whomever was responsible for killing him. [She shuts the door in his face.]

**Scene 10**

[Air Nomad camp -- exterior: Toph and Tashi play with a scale replica Toph has made of the Eastern Air Temple, surrounded by Fire Nation. Tashi picks up a pebble from the top.]

**Tashi:** Okay so this is you --

[Toph grabs her hand, pushing/guiding it back to the replica temple.]

**Toph:** I told you, keep it on the ground if you want me to see it. 

[There is a beat as the two girls realize they are holding hands. Tashi smiles, Toph is awkward and retracts her hand.]

**Toph:** Umm. Right. So yeah, that’s me. And then I went -- [The little pebble flies off the cliff, smashing into a replica of a Fire Nation tank, turning both to dust. Tashi laughs appreciatively.]

**Tashi:** That’s amazing. I wish I could take down Fire Nation tanks.

**Toph:** Why can’t you? 

**Tashi:** Dorje would never allow it. 

**Toph:** Who cares what Dorje allows? 

**Tashi:** He _is_ my dad. 

**Toph:** Oh. You call your dad Dorje? 

**Tashi:** That’s his name. What do you call your dad?

**Toph:** Dad. 

**Tashi:** Weird. Historically, airbenders weren’t raised by their parents -- so I guess we don’t have the same kind of traditions around it. Everyone helps out with the kids -- it’d be weird to call Dorje something special. 

[Toph thinks this over and sits down. Tashi joins her.]

**Toph:** I ran away from my family. 

**Tashi:** Why? 

**Toph:** They didn’t want me to train Aang. No actually, they didn’t think I _could_ train Aang. They thought I was a helpless little blind girl, and I couldn’t take it anymore. 

**Tashi:** That must have been hard. 

[Tashi puts her hand over Toph’s. There is a moment that Toph appreciates and enjoys this contact, then it is broken. Toph gets to her feet.]

**Toph:** Nope. Easiest decision of my life. Be trapped in a house with no friends and no earthbending? Or run around the world fighting bad guys and not listening to any rules? Not a choice at all. 

[Tashi, still on the ground, is a little stunned by Toph’s nonchalance. Before she can think of a response, Aang and Rinchen arrive on air scooters. They play a quick game of chase, that ends with Rinchen softly tagging Aang with two fingers.]

**Aang:** Wow, Rinchen, you have mastered the air-scooter. Good work pupil. [He bows comically low.]

**Rinchen:** [answers with an even lower bow.] Me thinks the teacher has become the master. 

**Aang:** Hey Toph! [For the first time since this season began, Aang seems like his normal self.]

**Toph:** We should get back. Katara and Sokka are going to get worried. 

**Aang:** [deflates immediately] You’re right. [Turning back to Rinchen] Can we have a lift on your air bison? You can come meet Appa -- and Momo! 

**Rinchen:** I don’t have my own bison companion. But I’m sure we can find you a lift. 

**Tashi:** [On her feet, holding her hands out] Don’t look at me. I’m pretty sure Dorje revoked my bison flights for the next fifty years. 

**Aang:** Where is Dorje? I want to talk to him before we go. 

[From behind Aang]

**Dorje:** I’m here. Thok tells me your meeting went well. 

**Aang:** Yes. Rinchen and Master Thok helped me connect with the spirit of the wisest man I ever knew. An old friend. And it made me realize… I owe you an apology. I’m sorry I got angry with you. I know it’s not your responsibility -- or any airbender’s -- to save the world. I am just… I am so grateful that you have survived. 

**Dorje:** Thank you, Avatar Aang. Know that it was an honor for us as well. I can return you to your friends or -- perhaps Tashi and Chorri can. [He smiles at his daughter who beams with pride.] Aang -- I am sorry too. I was too harsh with you when you arrived. You must understand, when I was born, we were less than half the number we are now. My father taught me that survival meant secrecy. You are the first outsider we have met in a hundred years. But you are not an outsider. You are a brother. You will always have a place with us.   
  


**Aang:** [tears pooling in his eyes] Thank you Master Dorje. 

[Tashi, Aang, and Toph make their way to Chorri. Rinchen runs after them.] 

**Rinchen:** Can I come?

**Aang:** Of course!

[The kids alight into the air. Rinchen, Tashi, and Aang seem perfectly at ease, while Toph clutches Aang’s arm tightly.]

**Rinchen:** Do you think you’ll be able to spirit-guide by yourself? You know, in case you ever need me to teach you the finer points of air-scootering. 

**Aang:** [Laughs] My boy, I was air-scootering before your grandfather was born!

**Rinchen:** Okay -- how about this. Tashi -- you ready? 

[Kneeling higher, Tashi and Rinchen move their arms in a swirling motion. There is no visible airbending or even a strong breeze.]

**Toph:** What? What are they doing? 

[Aang is silent as he doesn’t know. Then slowly, small tendrils of vapor begin to form around Chorri, creating a dense cloud.]

**Toph:** Why am I wet?

**Aang:** They’re… waterbending? 

**Rinchen:** [laughing] Almost. Cloud-bending we call it. We’re really just bending the air tightly around the water molecules. It’s how we fly around undetected. 

[Aang helps Toph grab on securely to Chorri’s back, and joins Tashi and Rinchen, mimicking their actions. Tashi blows a channel through the cloud to see that they are coming up on the Eastern Air Temple.] 

**Tashi:** This is your stop. 

[Aang clearly does not want to leave.] 

**Aang:** Thank you -- for coming to find me. 

**Tashi:** I hope we see you guys again. It was an honor to meet you Avatar Aang. And you, Toph -- take out some firebenders for me. 

[Toph blushes behind her hair. Then, Aang locks his arms around her tightly and together they launch off the bison, falling through the cloud.]

[Credits roll.]


	3. S3E3: The Departure

**Season 3: Episode 3 -- "The Departure"**

**Scene 1**

[Eastern Air Temple -- interior: Aang tends to Appa. Appa has a large section of burned fur and flesh on his left side which Aang applies an ointment to. Appa groans.] 

**Aang:** There you go, buddy. Soon enough you’ll be right as rain and read to fly!

**Sokka** : [from without] Breakfast is ready!

[Aang goes outside and sits with Sokka, Katara, and Toph as they eat breakfast.]

**Katara:** Tell us about the airbenders, Aang! It must have been incredible. 

**Aang:** It was. They descended from survivors of the genocide. They’ve been living in secret for a hundred years. I can’t wait to introduce you. There’s Dorje, who’s their leader and he was a little grumpy at first but he was persuaded by my charms. And then there’s Rinchen -- he has a pink arrow that goes around the side of his head and he’s super powerful -- he helped me talk to Monk Gyatso! And he picked up air-scootering like that [snaps.] And there’s Tashi -- the one who came here. Toph, you want to tell them about her?

**Toph:** What? No. What? Why me? 

**Aang:** Umm I dunno. [Scratches his head.] You guys spent the whole day together. 

**Toph:** No. Barely. 

**Aang:** Okaaaaaaay. Tashi seems really cool too. She has her own bison -- Chorri. Hopefully Chorri and Appa can be friends some day!

**Sokka:** This is amazing! I was telling Katara yesterday that I’m working on revising our invasion for the Day of Black Sun. 

**Aang:** The invasion? How is that going to work without the Earth Kingdom’s armies? 

**Sokka:** We can’t do a large scale invasion without them. But we still have allies all around the world. With their help, we can launch an assault on the palace and take down the Fire Lord ourselves. And now that we have airbending fighters and flying bison air support --

**Aang:** [serious] No. 

**Sokka:** No… what? 

**Aang:** We don’t have airbending fighters or flying bison. Not for the invasion. 

[Sokka bugs out. Katara is also surprised.]

**Katara:** The airbenders said they wouldn’t fight? Against the Fire Nation that almost destroyed their people? 

**Aang:** It’s not the airbending way. Firelord Sozin was able to ambush the airbenders a hundred years ago because airbenders have never been warriors. 

**Sokka:** I beg to differ! I’ve seen you take out hundreds of people -- whole battalions of soldiers. 

[Sokka believes that he is complimenting Aang. For Sokka, who spent his whole life idolizing his warrior father, fighting prowess is a no brainer. Aang, however, is upset to be reminded of this.]

**Aang:** But I didn’t want to! I did what I had to do to keep us safe, but it was awful every time!

**Katara:** Aang… 

**Aang:** I’ve let my anger towards the Fire Nation take over. Hurting people goes against everything I was taught. 

**Toph:** Wait a minute. You’re saying you regret taking down firebenders? What about Zuko or Azula -- you regret fighting them?

[Aang gets to his feet.]

**Aang:** Yes! I don’t want to hurt  _ anyone _ !

[Sokka also rises, and holds out his hands in a calming gesture.]

**Sokka:** Okay, okay, I get it. We all do. None of us  _ likes _ hurting people. 

[Toph shrugs.]

**Sokka:** But the reason we’ve done it is because we have to stand up to the tyranny of the Fire Nation. If we didn’t hurt them, they would hurt thousands of others. 

**Aang:** [shaking his head] I don’t believe that’s the only way. 

**Katara:** Killing the Firelord will end the war. Taking his life will save so many others. 

**Aang:** [sighs and sits back down] I know! I know -- but how does more violence create peace? That doesn’t make sense.

**Sokka:** So you’re saying you aren’t going to kill the Firelord?

[Before Aang can answer, a shadow passes over them and an explosive goes off nearby. It is a war balloon, red with the Fire Nation insignia on the side. They are too far away to make out details, so we can assume they can’t see the kids in detail either. The balloon fires another missile.]

**Scene 2**

[Ember Island -- exterior, beach, morning: Azula, Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai arrive at the beach. They look like normal teenagers in beach clothing. Indistinguishable from the other kids surrounding them.] 

**Azula:** Ember Island, the site of many family vacations. What’s your favorite memory, Zuzu? 

**Zuko:** It’s so hard to pick -- there was the time Dad threw me into the ocean before I could swim. Or the time you put ten ice cream cones in my bed and I was covered in firehopper bites for weeks. 

[Azula laughs.] 

**Azula:** I had forgotten about that! Hilarious. 

**Zuko:** [pulling Azula to the side] Don’t you think it’s strange that Father sent us here? The last time we saw him, he was making plans for the three of us to work side by side on the day of Sozin’s Comet. We haven’t heard from him since and now he sends us away?

**Azula:** [plucking Zuko’s hand off her shoulder] Don’t be so paranoid. Father gifted us a vacation. That’s all. 

**Zuko:** You don’t believe that. 

**Azula:** Everything is a big conspiracy with you. Lighten up. 

[A teenage boy walks up to the group -- straight to Ty Lee.]

**Teen 1:** Hey! Do you need help unpacking? 

**Ty Lee:** Sure! 

[Ty Lee hands him her bag, the weight of which brings him to the ground. Without losing any excitement, Teen 1 eagerly begins throwing things out of the bag to find her beach blanket. Teen 2 arrives.]

**Teen 2:** Hey, let me help you with that. [He smiles brightly at Ty Lee.]

**Teen 1:** I’ve got it. 

**Teen 2:** It’s not a problem. 

**Ty Lee:** Thanks, boys. 

[She lays down on the blanket. Teens 1 and 2 remain where they are, seemingly in a daze. Ty Lee squints up at them, then smiles.]

**Ty Lee:** Do you think you could move [she motions with her fingers and the boys move to the side. She puts out her palm when they block the sun from her eyes.]

**Mai:** Ridiculous. 

**Azula:** Sickening. 

**Zuko:** Idiotic. 

**Ty Lee:** Perfect. 

[Cut to: Zuko and Mai walk down the beach. Zuko picks up a shell and gives it to Mai.] 

**Zuko:** Here, this is for you. 

**Mai:** Why would I want that? 

**Zuko:** I don’t know -- it’s a gift, you’re just supposed to accept it!

**Mai:** But it has nothing to do with me or anything that I like. 

**Zuko:** Fine! [he throws the shell as far as he can into the ocean.]

[U: Azula and Ty Lee. Azula has been literally shoved to the edge of the frame by the amount of admirers Ty Lee has attracted. Azula is clearly upset that she is being ignored and Ty Lee is getting so much attention. She scans the beach and sees a game of kuai ball. She smiles evilly, then rearranging her face into a pleasant expression, she walks over to the guys who are playing. They’re tall and buff.] 

**Azula:** We call winner. 

**Chan:** [smiles and rolls his eyes] If we get a girl game going later, we’ll let you know sweetheart. 

**Azula:** I know my brother has long hair, but I think he would disqualify us from the girl game. We’ll play the winner of this one. 

**Chan:** [smiling at his teammates] Okay, this shouldn’t take us long. 

[Azula steps back and summons Zuko and Mai who come over. Ty Lee is now surrounded by triple the amount of admirers.] 

**Azula:** Ty Lee! Get over here!

**Ty Lee:** See you later, boys! [She does a handstand and walks over to the team on her hands.] 

[Azula draws them into a huddle.] 

**Azula:** All right -- the girl on the team has been favoring her right foot, I’d wager she’s still suffering from a childhood injury on the left. Zuko, you take her, target the left side. Mai -- keep them running, put your volleys everywhere they aren’t. And save muscle-boy for me -- those rippling pectorals are for show alone, I doubt he’s ever worked up a sweat in his life. Together we will defeat them so robustly that they will never be able to rise from their shame again!

**Ty Lee:** What do I do? 

**Azula:** Hmm, whatever you did the boys back there seemed to make them into slobbering idiots, why don’t you do that again? [There would be a way for a friend to say this line to another friend in a teasing but good-hearted way. Azula is being decidedly mean and Ty Lee is hurt.] 

[The game gets set up, theatrical shots of the players tensing up before the first serve -- then a multitude of shots of Azula, Mai, Zuko, and Ty Lee obliterating the competition. Mai serves it into the sand as three players dive to retrieve the ball. Zuko jumps up at the net to shut down a spike. Ty Lee smiles at an opponent, making him drool, then kicks the ball into his face. Lastly, Azula tenses up from the back line, does a flip and kicks the ball to the other side, lighting the net on fire in the process. She glares through the fiery remains, grinning widely and breathing heavily. The opposition looks small and frightened.

Chan walks up to her.] 

**Chan:** You owe me a new net. 

**Azula:** I don’t believe winners are responsible for getting the losers anything. 

**Chan:** You don’t know who I am, do you? 

[Azula finds this immensely hilarious because: 1. She  _ doesn’t  _ know who he is, and 2. He clearly doesn’t know who  _ she _ is. She smirks and crosses her arms.]

**Azula:** Should I? 

**Chan:** I’m Chan. My father’s an admiral in the Fire Navy. He’s one of the most important men in the Fire Nation, making me one of the most important men in the Fire Nation. 

**Azula:** [amused] Oh really? 

**Ty Lee:** If you think your dad is important --

**Azula:** Ty Lee, don’t interrupt. 

[Chan looks Ty Lee up and down and smiles widely.]

**Chan:** You can interrupt me all day long. 

[Azula rolls her eyes.]

**Chan:** [Still inspecting Ty Lee] I guess I can look the other way on the net -- but you still owe me one. You can make it up to me tonight -- I’m having a party. 

**Azula:** As if we would ever be interested--

**Ty Lee:** We would love to come to a  _ party _ !

  
  


**Scene 3**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior: The gang is under attack from a Fire Nation war balloon. Sokka tackles Aang and hides them behind a fountain.]

**Aang:** What are you doing? 

**Sokka:** They can’t know you’re alive! You have to stay hidden. We’ll take care of them.

**Aang:** No! I won’t let you fight for me!

**Sokka:** Fine -- here [he undoes one of his arm wraps] Tie this around your arrow, hopefully your hair hides the rest! Pick one element and stick to it -- no airbending!

[Sokka runs into the temple to grab his weapons. Aang joins Toph and Katara who are defending the temple. The air balloon is too far away for them to reach with bending.]

**Katara:** Eleven o’clock!

[Toph earthbends a wall in front of her, at eleven o’clock, and protects herself from an explosive blast.] 

**Katara:** Aang -- you’re not strong enough yet! Let us take care of this!

[Aang doesn’t respond, but perhaps his choice of element is his rebuttal to Katara. He launches a boulder at the balloon. It misses and Aang reels from the effort.]

**Toph:** Be smarter, Twinkletoes! Earthbending isn’t all about big rocks and loud noises. 

[To demonstrate, Toph pulls a large stone from the earth, breaks it into shrapnel and sends it flying towards the balloon. Several of the small stones piece the canvas. The balloon comes closer.] 

**Fire Nation Soldier:** Surrender!

**Toph:** Ha! To one balloon? 

[On cue, five other balloons rise over the cliffs, completely surrounding the temple.]

**Toph:** There’s more, aren’t there? 

[Sokka comes back from inside. He hurls his boomerang with his non-bandaged arm and cuts a line on one balloon, making it unbalanced. It drifts off to the side.] 

**Sokka:** [catching the boomerang] Ha! See Aang! There’s no getting around fighting. 

[Aang is angered by this statement but must defend another fire blast. 

The kids are outnumbered and are forced to retreat into the interior of the temple. The force of the explosions makes the temple walls shake. Through a window, Katara sees that the balloons have landed and firebenders are forming ranks outside. Appa roars, but is still too weak to get up. Katara kneels down and pulls the other into a huddle.]

**Katara:** Aang -- you need to go.

**Aang:** Go where? 

**Katara:** [She points down through the stone] You and Toph. You need to get out of here. Sokka and I will cover your escape. 

**Aang:** No! I’m not leaving you!

[Katara puts her hands on Aang’s shoulders.] 

**Katara:** It’s okay, Aang. You’re the Avatar. You have to stay safe. 

**Sokka:** Katara’s right. We’ll be fine. But if they catch you… 

**Aang:** [Less certain] No -- I can’t. Not again. 

[Katara pulls Aang in for a tight hug.] 

**Katara:** You’re not letting us go. We never let each other go. 

[The whole gang embraces one another.]

**Sokka:** Keep each other safe. We’ll see you soon. 

[They hug, then Toph gets to her feet.] 

**Toph:** Come on!

[Aang and Toph run back through the temple. They pass Appa who groans and rolls his head to look after Aang. Aang stops.]

**Toph:** We have to go!

[Aang squeezes his eyes shut with one hand on Appa. His face is contorted in rage, disappointment, and grief. When he opens them, we expect to see the power of the Avatar State, but Aang’s eyes remain the same.]

**Aang:** Let me try one more thing.

**Toph:** What??

**Aang:** Hide us underneath the floor -- I need to meditate.

[Toph groans but shifts the stone so that she and Aang are in a little chamber under the floor. Aang sits and closes his eyes as Toph keeps a hand on the stone, to see what is happening outside.

Through the visual style of Toph’s “sight” we see Sokka and Katara fight back the firebenders. We see Sokka throw a boomerang -- but when it is in the air it is invisible. A firebender falls making it clear the weapon did it’s job. The same goes for Katara. We see her figure move through the waterbending stances and we see firebenders fall, but we can’t see the water flying through the air. 

Aang breathes deeply as the chamber around him shakes. Then he is thrust into the brightly lit camp of the Air Nomads -- to Rinchen. Aang is a blue, translucent spirit.] 

**Rinchen:** Aang! You’re spirit-guiding!

**Aang:** Rinchen! We need help! The Fire Nation has us surrounded. 

**Rinchen:** Where are you? How much time? 

[Cut to -- Toph sees Sokka and Katara captured.]

**Toph:** We have to go!

[Aang’s physical face frowns, but he does not open his eyes and keeps his breathing regulated.

Cut to : Aang’s spirit form and Rinchen.]

**Aang:** Now!

[Aang’s spirit is called back to his body. He opens in eyes in the chamber as footsteps echo above them. He can hear the noises of Appa resisting capture. He clenches his fist.]

**Toph:** [whispering] It’s okay, Aang. We’ll come back for all of them. [Toph is scared too, but knows her job is to keep the Avatar safe at all costs.]

**Aang:** Just give them a minute. 

**Toph:** [exasperated] Sokka and Katara were already taken!

[Aang sets his expression. Determined.]

**Aang:** Just one more minute.

[Tophs sits down and buries her face in her hands.]

**Scene 4**

[Emerald Island -- exterior, night: Azula, Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee stand on a porch.]

**Mai:** I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell this jerk who you were. I’d love to see the look in his eyes when he realizes he spoke like that to the princess and prince of the Fire Nation. 

**Azula:** I was intrigued -- I’m so used to people worshiping us all the time, I wanted to know how they’d act if they thought we were ordinary. 

**Mai:** Oh yay, we get to be treated like ordinary people. Woo hoo. 

[Azula knocks on the door. From inside, Chan opens the door. His eyes find Ty Lee and he smiles.] 

**Chan:** You made it. 

**Mai:** We had so many other plans to get to… 

**Chan:** Come in, I’ll show you the place. My dad’s out of town, bringing the Earth Kingdom under control. So just be careful that you don’t break anything. 

[As they walk, heads turn as teens from the beach recognize Ty Lee.]

**Teen 1:** Hey, Ty Lee!

**Teen 2:** How’s it going?

**Teen 3:** Can I get you something to drink? 

**Zuko:** [coldly] A jasmine tea please. [The teens glare at him.] 

[Ty Lee steps off the side, in a crowd of admirers.] 

**Azula:** Well, Chan, this is a beautiful house! And you -- that’s a sharp outfit. You’d better be careful -- you could sink an imperial warship with that outfit causing hundreds to die at sea. You know, cuz it’s so sharp. 

**Mai:** Smooth. 

**Chan:** Yeah… so have a fun time. [He leaves.] 

**Azula:** [angrily] What are you two doing here! Go have fun, it’s a party!

**Mai:** Sheesh, fine. Zuko, let’s go. 

[ Cut to : Ty Lee and her group of admirers.] 

**Teen 1:** So, I was thinking we could go for a walk on the beach tonight. 

**Teen 2:** She doesn’t want to go with you! She was totally into my sand-pagoda building. 

**Teen 3:** You guys are dreaming -- Ty Lee and I are going to be the ones going on a moonlit stroll. 

[While they argue, Ty Lee slips away. She finds Azula sitting alone and joins her.] 

**Ty Lee:** Geez, those guys can’t decide who likes me more! 

**Azula:** [rolls her eyes] This is all an act, right? If you were really this dimwitted you wouldn’t remember to get back onto your feet after one of your little tricks. 

**Ty Lee:** [hurt] What? 

**Azula:** Those boys only like you because you make it so easy for them. You’re a tease in a short dress, that’s it. 

**Ty Lee:** That’s a really rotten thing to say! [She storms away.]

[Zuko appears.] 

**Zuko:** What happened to her? 

**Azula:** [shrugs, though she is clearly bothered] She can’t deal with the truth, I guess. 

  
  
  


**Scene 5**

[Eastern Air Temple -- interior, Toph and Aang’s hidey hole: Toph still sitting with her hands in her face -- she can’t help but see how the firebenders are treating Sokka and Katara. Aang remains angry but determined.]

Cut to : exterior: Sokka and Katara are on their knees, their hands tied behind their arms. Fire Nation soldiers surround them.] 

**Captain:** Where are the others?

[Sokka and Katara stare into the distance and don’t answer. The soldier grabs Katara by the hair. She cries out in pain, but screws her eyes shut and remains silent.]

**Captain:** There were four of you. Two earthbenders -- where are they?

[Katara looks into the man’s eyes with hatred, her lips sealed. He raises his fist.]

**Sokka:** They’re gone!

[The soldier glares at Sokka and throws Katara to the ground roughly.]

[ Cut to : Toph and Aang. Toph winces.]

**Toph:** I’m sorry, Aang. 

[Before Aang can react, stone comes from the walls of their hiding place and binds his arms to his chest and his legs together. She begins to descend their spot like an elevator. The grinding of rock is unbearable.]

[ Cut to : -- outside, it is darker than before. The sky is no longer crystalline blue, but light gray (throughout the scene, it gets darker and darker). The soldiers can clearly hear the rocks grinding against each other. Sokka and Katara exchange a panicked gaze.]

**Captain:** Go!

[A set of firebenders go into the temple where the noise is coming from. The captain stalks over to Katara who is still on the ground and crouches in front of her.]

**Captain:** The earthbenders abandoned you, huh? 

[Katara does not answer. The captain smiles.]

**Captain:** Left behind by your friends. That must have hurt. 

[Katara closes her eyes. The captain moves over to Sokka who is still kneeling.] 

**Captain:** Tell us where they’re going.

**Sokka:** Never. 

[The captain smiles broadly and goes back to Katara. He pulls her up by her arms. Using one arm to hold her in place, he smiles again and produces a fire blast in his palm. Katara pulls away from the heat.]

**Sokka:** No!

**Captain:** I think never is going to be pretty soon. 

[Cut to -- Toph and Aang. Toph stops their descent.]

**Toph:** Katara!

[She is clearly torn by her responsibility to protect Aang and the coldness of watching her friend burn and doing nothing. Then her expression changes.]

**Toph:** Wait -- what’s that?

[Cut to: outside. The gray clouds have descended, shrouding the entire temple. The captain who has Katara has not seemed to notice, though the soldiers behind him have. He smiles, pushing the flame closer to Katara’s neck. She cries out. Before she is burned, there is a loud gasp behind the captain. Still holding Katara, he turns to see that one of his soldiers has disappeared. Before his eyes, another soldier is sucked backwards into the impenetrable mist. The captain realizes for the first time the clouds that have descended. Even now, it is becoming hard to see the soldiers ten feet away.]

**Captain:** Company! Circle formation. 

[Firebenders move towards the captain, forming a loose circle. In the fog, they trip into each other.

Sokka crawls over to Katara.

The firebenders look nervously into the fog. It is quiet -- they can hear no enemies.]

**Captain:** Who’s there! Show yourself. 

**Soldier 1:** My gran always told me the air temples were haunted. 

[The captain smacks him.]

**Captain:** There’s no such thing as ghosts!

[The soldier is sucked away from right next to the captain. He screams as he disappears into the fog. There is visible unease among the soldiers.]

**Captain:** Steady!

[Katara concentrates and sucks in a deep breath. The vapor from the fog drifts over to her. Using minute movements of her fingers, she is able to condense the water and cut through her bonds. She does Sokka’s as well. The circle around them is too close to escape, so they wait. Two more soldiers are sucked away. Katara and Sokka exchange a look and bolt through the gap in the circle. Katara sends water whips that she creates from the clouds to cover their escape.]

**Captain:** Go get them! [He shoves two soldiers after them. That leaves him with less than ten.] 

[The fog suddenly parts, revealing a statue of a long dead airbender. Before their eyes the statue begins to glow. A thunderous voice comes from it.]

**Statue:** LEAVE!

[The firebenders quake. The captain summons fire to his hands.

Having been ignored, the spirit steps out of the statue. It is a tall, strong airbending male with a shaved head and arrow tattoo. He glows with blue energy.] 

**Airbender:** Those who leave now will be spared. [He raises his arms.]

[Half of the soldiers look at each other then run away. The others gather fire in their palms. They are sucked away in a huge gust, leaving the captain alone. He kicks a blast at the spirit, but it passes through him harmlessly. The spirit smiles and cocks his head to the side.]

[ Cut to : Temple interior -- the soldiers who chased Katara and Sokka have cornered them next to Appa. Katara has two strands of water but no way to get more.]

**Soldier 2:** Give it up, kids. No ghosts here. 

[With a loud grating sound, the floor under the soldiers flips, sending them below and Toph and Aang above. Katara hugs Aang, Sokka hugs Toph. ]

**Katara:** You were supposed to leave!

[Aang shrugs.

Outside the temple, the darkness suddenly disappears and is replaced with bright sunshine. Rinchen pokes his head through the doorway.]

**Rinchen:** Hey Aang! Beautiful day outside!

**Scene 6**

[Emerald island -- interior, Chan’s party: Zuko and Mai sit on a bench, looking bored and angry.]

**Zuko:** Do you want to dance? 

**Mai:** No. 

**Zuko:** Do you want to talk to people? 

**Mai:** No. 

**Zuko:** Do you want to do  _ anything _ ? 

**Mai:** Not be yelled at would be great. 

**Zuko:** [stands] I’ll go get us something to drink. 

**Mai:** Fantastic. 

[Azula comes and takes Zuko’s place.]

**Azula:** This party is stupid and these people are dullards and fools! Our own people, Mai! Fire Nation citizens. 

**Mai:** Just tell them who you are. 

**Azula:** That won’t make them any less foolish. 

**Mai:** Yeah but they’ll hide it better. Have you seen Ty Lee? 

**Azula:** Probably off with some random boy -- or three. 

**Mai:** As long as she’s not still crying in the bathroom. 

[Azula glances sideways at Mai, then stands.] 

**Azula:** I’d better go check. Just to make sure. 

[ Cut to : Azula at the closed bathroom door. She listens for a moment then knocks. Ty Lee answers, tears in her eyes.] 

**Ty Lee:** What? 

**Azula:** Just wanted to see if you’re okay. 

**Ty Lee:** I’ll be fine. 

**Azula:** [closes her eyes and frowns -- this apology is going to be the hardest thing she’s done] Yes, well, even so -- I wanted to… to… 

**Ty Lee:** To what?

**Azula:** I’m sorry! [She breathes in to calm down -- fighter training at work] Do you want to know the truth? I was… jealous. 

**Ty Lee:** [confused] Of what? All the boys? But you could have anyone in Fire Nation!

**Azula:** Apparently only if they know who I am, who my father is. When I talk to boys they just look like I’m going to do something terrible to them.

[At this Ty Lee giggles and steps out of the bathroom.] 

**Ty Lee:** To be totally fair -- you definitely could do something horrible to them. 

**Azula:** True. 

**Ty Lee:** You just need to learn how to talk to boys, it’s a skill you can master -- just like anything else!

[Azula is intrigued, she’s never met a skill she couldn’t master before.] 

**Ty Lee:** Look, it’s easy, okay? You’re already gorgeous and smart and funny. [Azula blushes] All you need to do to get any guy to look at you is smile and compliment them and laugh at everything they say. 

**Azula:** That sounds asinine and shallow. 

**Ty Lee:** It  _ is _ asinine and shallow! But it works, check it out. [Lowering her voice] Hey there pretty lady. 

**Azula:** [unsure] Ha? Ha ha ha? 

**Ty Lee:** [man voice] Wow, you’ve got a great sense of humor!

**Azula:** Umm… you’re so handsome?

**Ty Lee:** Let’s get married!

[Azula giggles and shakes her head.]

**Ty Lee:** Come on! [takes Azula’s arm and drags her back to the party] These boys aren’t going to know what hit them!

  
  


**Scene 7**

[Eastern Air Temple -- exterior. Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Aang celebrate their victory with the airbenders. A few airbenders keep the clouds going around the temple, so anyone on the ground wouldn’t be able to see them. Aang pulls Sokka over to Rinchen.]

**Aang:** Sokka, this is Rinchen. He taught me how to spirit-guide and he’s the one who got everyone here. 

[Sokka and Rinchen man shake. Next to them, Toph and Katara talk to Tashi. Tashi is very excited.]

**Tashi:** And then I was like [makes wild swirling movements with her arms] and then were like [actually blows herself over the cliff.]

**Toph:** I assume she didn’t just kill herself for a joke? 

[Tashi swoops back up through the clouds and touches down next to them.]

**Toph:** Oh good. So you liked taking down firebenders, huh?

**Tashi:** It was amazing! You guys do this all the time?

**Katara:** Yeah pretty much. 

**Tashi:** That’s awesome!

**Katara:** Well there’s a lot more to it --

**Toph:** Yeah, it’s awesome!

[Katara takes a surveying look between the two girls. Tashi blushes. The camera moves on to Dorje, who approaches Aang and Rinchen.]

**Dorje:** Avatar. 

**Aang:** Dorje! Thank you for coming to save us. I know that’s not what--

[Dorje raises a hand to silence Aang.]

**Dorje:** We came. Dwelling on that decision will not change it. Now we must leave. I cannot allow my people to be this close to enemy soldiers. 

**Aang:** Of course. 

**Dorje:** You and your friends must come with us. The Fire Nation will not let you stay up here. 

**Aang:** I can’t leave without Appa. 

**Dorje:** Rinchen said something about an injured bison. 

[Dorje holds up a hand and a few airbenders come forward with a large section of cloth.. They unroll it.] 

**Dorje:** A bison sling. This isn’t our first time. 

[ Cut to : Appa in a bison sling being lifted by four other bison. The whole tribe works together to keep the clouds in place and the team flies off.]

**Scene 8**

[Ember island -- interior, Chan’s house. With Ty Lee’s prompting, Azula marches over to Chan, who is speaking with another girl.] 

**Azula:** Chan! I am ready for a tour of the house. 

**Chan:** Ahh, okay? 

[He gives his cup to the girl who looks irritated. Azula smirks at her and puts the cup on the top of her head.

Cut to: Azula and Chan on the balcony.] 

**Chan:** So… umm … is this your first time on Ember Island? 

**Azula:** I used to come here all the time as a child. I’m surprised I didn’t know about you -- what with being the admiral’s son and all. 

[Chan puffs up]

**Chan:** Yeah, it’s a great place -- if you like sand. 

[Azula laughs loudly and fakely, but apparently Chan can’t tell.]

**Chan:** Yeah, like, they should call it Sandy Land instead!

**Azula:** [still laughing] Sandy Land! Good one, Chan. 

**Chan:** Yeah. You’re pretty cool. 

**Azula:** Thanks, you… ‘re arms look really strong. 

**Chan:** Yeah -- I work out a lot. 

[Chan steps closer to Azula, who -- after years of dealing with enemies exclusively -- takes a step back.] 

**Chan:** Something wrong? 

[Instead of answering, Azula reaches us and pulls him down to her. They kiss.] 

**Chan:** You’re amazing -- and so hot. 

**Azula:** Yes, I am. And so are you. And together we will be the hottest couple on the planet! We will dominate everyone else!

**Chan:** Ah -- couple? I think I hear someone calling me. 

[Chan rushes inside, leaving Azula confused and upset on the porch.] 

  
  


**Scene 9**

[Air nomad camp -- exterior: The airbenders are packing up to leave. Aang helps them get their stuff set up. They use various airbending tricks to make the job go faster.] 

**Aang:** Katara! Check this out!

[He rolls up a fleet of bedrolls with one gust of air. Katara laughs.]

**Katara:** That could have been useful the last thousand times we packed up our camp. 

[Aang shrugs charmingly.]

**Katara:** You should be careful. You don’t want that wound on your back to reopen. 

**Aang:** Thanks! But I think being with my people has healed me just as much as the spirit water!

[Aang zooms away so he doesn’t see how his comment affects Katara.]

[ Cut to : Dinner with the airbenders.]

**Aang:** So where are you gonna go next? 

**Rinchen:** Wherever the breeze takes us. [Does some funny hand movements that make Aang laugh.]

**Dorje:** We will go north. It will be hard now that we can no longer trust our old Earth Kingdom stops. And where will you go, young Avatar? 

[Aang looks to Sokka.]

**Sokka:** We’ve got to trace down our allies so we can hope to stand a chance on the Day of Black Sun… unless, any airbenders have changed their minds? 

[He smiles at the airbenders next to him, who turns away.]

**Dorje:** The Day of Black Sun -- which will rob the firebenders of bending power. 

**Sokka:** Exactly! No risks!

**Dorje:** Hmm. And what about after? 

**Aang:** After what? 

**Dorje:** The Day of Black Sun. If all goes according to plan, you will have killed the Firelord. What happens then? 

**Aang:** Huh. We never really thought about it. I guess … peace? 

**Dorje:** [laughs, then stops.] I’m sorry. I thought you were kidding. But really -- you have no plan for after? 

**Sokka:** Taking out the Firelord is the most important thing we can do. We’ll worry about what happens next … next. 

**Dorje:** I see. So who will become Firelord after Ozai? Are his children more gentle? 

[Katara nearly chokes on her food.]

**Katara:** No -- Zuko and Azula would be even worse. 

**Dorje:** So then… you’ll kill them too. 

**Aang:** Umm. 

**Dorje:** If the Firelord’s children are still alive, the nation will never accept a different ruler. 

**Aang:** Right. 

**Dorje:** Perhaps you seek to rule, Aang? 

**Aang:** Me? No way!

**Dorje:** The Fire Nation has learned for over a hundred years that their cause is just and righteous. Don’t be surprised if they don’t take your word that they have been mistaken. You can kill the Firelord if that is what you think is right. You can kill his children. But you can’t kill everyone in the Fire Nation. 

**Toph:** Not with that attitude. 

[Dorje glares while Tashi giggles behind her hand.]

**Dorje:** You need a plan. 

**Aang:** You’re right, Master Dorje. Thank you for your wisdom. 

[Sokka pulls out parchment and a pen.]

**Sokka:** Okay… plan. Step one: kill Firelord. Step two: prevent war from ever happening again. I like it!

**Rinchen:** So you’re still set on killing the Firelord, Aang? 

[Aang does not seem set on anything. But he swallows and sets his expression.]

**Aang:** It’s my destiny. 

**Dorje:** I am not one to disagree with the Avatar; I’m sure you’re right. I just wonder… suffice to say I have never known an airbender’s whole destiny to be the ending of one life. It seems… small.

**Katara:** Killing the Firelord isn’t small! It will end a war that has hurt millions of people around the world!

[Dorje nods to Karata respectfully.]

**Dorje:** Of course. Come, it’s getting dark and we must leave at first light. 

[With his words, the camp begins to pack up and turn in for the evening.]

**Katara:** Come on, Aang. 

**Aang:** Umm, I think I’m gonna stay up for a little. With Tashi and Rinchen. But you guys go. I’ll be there soon. 

  
  
  


**Scene 10**

[Ember Island -- exterior, balcony, at night: Azula leans on the balcony looking upset. Ty Lee dances out, very excited.]

**Ty Lee:** So! What happened with Chan! Did you guys kiss?

[Azula shrugs and does not say anything. This is odd for Azula and Ty Lee comes closer, leaning on the balcony bannister next to Azula.]

**Azula:** Chan’s a fool. 

**Ty Lee:** What happened? 

**Azula:** We kissed -- and all I said was that we were going to be better than every other couple in the world and take them down in fiery domination!

**Ty Lee:** [smiling at her clueless friend] Some boys have no imagination. 

[Azula seems to notice how close they are. She doesn’t move -- instead she tries to push Ty Lee away with her words.]

**Azula:** You would know. 

[Instead of being offended, Ty Lee laughs loudly.] 

**Ty Lee:** You’re right. I  _ do _ know. 

[Azula glares, but Ty Lee isn’t perturbed. She nudges Azula with her shoulder and looks out at the sea.]

**Ty Lee:** But if you offered Chan the chance to be with you -- or the chance to shine your shoes -- and he turned it down? He’s the biggest idiot I’ve ever met. 

[Azula turns to look at Ty Lee with an uncharacteristically open expression. She quickly turns away and hides behind her hair.]

**Azula:** I’m… I’m sorry, Ty Lee. For what I said earlier. 

**Ty Lee:** Forgiven! [She loops an arm around Azula’s shoulders and kisses her on the cheek. Azula blushes.] Let’s go find Mai and Zuko. This party blows. 

**Azula:** If they haven’t killed each other yet. 

**Ty Lee:** I know -- it’s like they’re ignoring that they’ve been crazy about each other since we were little kids. [It is possible Ty Lee is speaking about two other childhood friends as well.]

**Scene 11**

[Peaks of the mountains near the Eastern Air Temple -- exterior, night: Aang, Tashi, and Rinchen, sneak through the trails.] 

**Tashi:** Dorje will kill us if he finds out we left camp at night. 

**Rinchen:** [impersonating Dorje] If it didn’t defy my sacred oaths, I would blast you into next year, young lady!

[Aang cracks up.]

**Aang:** It’s fine. I’ve done this a million times. 

[Taking a deep breath, Aang runs towards the cliff and jumps off. Rinchen and Tashi scramble to the edge to see Aang bouncing down the mountainside using only breaths from his mouth. They leap after him.] 

[Down at the bottom, Aang and Tashi hang from a tree while Rinchen continues to bounce.] 

**Aang:** Does he ever get tired? 

**Tashi:** Not usually. Once I saw him sleep for three hours in a row.

**Aang:** Are you guys siblings? 

**Tashi:** Kind of. Rinchen’s a mystery. We found him in a village on the edge of the Fire Nation. He was just a baby, and he was left all alone in a little cradle at the shore. He didn’t have a note or anything identifying him, so my mother decided to take him in -- they thought he would be the first nonbender we’d ever have in our colony. 

[Suddenly Rinchen pops through the leaves above them, upside down.]

**Rinchen:** And they say that I was born with red eyes -- like a Firebender! But because of the spirituality of the airbenders, I was turned into one of them. 

[He falls out of the tree, does a flip, and lands harmlessly below. He shrugs up at them.]

**Rinchen:** Firebender, airbender, doesn’t matter to me. As long as I get to live! [He air-scoots away.]

**Tashi:** Well, it matters to me. The more airbenders the better!

**Aang:** Seriously. I thought I was alone. 

**Tashi:** You aren’t, Aang. You could… 

**Aang:** What? 

**Tashi:** It’s stupid. You’ll laugh. 

**Aang:** No I won’t. I promise. 

**Tashi:** You could come with us. 

**Aang:** Go north with you guys? 

**Tashi:** Yeah. I know your destiny is to fight the Firelord.

**Aang:** What if … what if I don’t want that destiny? 

**Tashi:** Come with us! This is where you’re supposed to be! You heard Dorje -- he said you’d always have a place with us. 

**Aang:** But Sokka and Toph… and Katara. 

**Tashi:** They have their own people, right? The Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom. And you have us. Plus -- I think Rinchen really likes having you here. 

[Rinchen pops up again from the branches. He sticks out his tongue at Tashi.]

**Rinchen:** And I think Tashi really likes a certain  _ earthbender! _

[Tashi blushes and chases Rinchen out of the tree.]

**Tashi:** You little-- You’re gonna wish we never found you on that beach!

[Cut to: the Fire Nation Camp by the air temple. Soldier 1 wakes up and rubs his eyes, squinting into the distance where little pockets of air can be seen exploding on the mountainside.]

  
  
  


**Scene 12**

[Air Nomad camp -- exterior, morning: The sun rises over the camp. Katara, Sokka, and Toph sleep heavily. Katara is awakened by someone moving nearby. She sees Aang, with a bag slung over his shoulder, walking away. She gets up and watches him approach the airbenders, who are also ready to leave. She watches them put Appa in the sling. Aang talks with Rinchen and Tashi. Katara steps out from her hiding place and Rinchen points her out to Aang.] 

**Katara:** You weren’t even going to say goodbye?

[Aang hangs his head in shame.]

**Katara:** What does this mean? You’re abandoning us? You’re giving up?

**Aang:** I lost something, Katara. Not all of me came back when you healed me. But when I met the airbenders … I started to feel whole again. I don’t know how to explain it. 

**Katara:** [softening] I know how important it must have been to meet your people again. I do. I remember when I first met other waterbenders. It was like, getting a whole new life. And I’m not trying to keep you from them. But we have a job--

**Aang:** Why? 

**Katara:** What? Because that’s what we’ve been doing, for all this time!

**Aang:** But why? You heard Dorje last night -- what will it accomplish to kill one man? I’m not going to go against all of my beliefs and murder someone if we don’t even know that it will bring peace. 

**Katara:** No one knows --

**Aang:** No one knows what their destiny is. For so long, we thought my destiny was to kill the Firelord. Everyone told me that. But what if that’s not true? I’m the Avatar, Katara, not an executioner. What if my destiny is to help rebuild my people? 

**Katara:** I think it probably is! [She is getting upset, wondering what they are fighting about since she agrees with everything Aang is saying.] Your life is going to be long and full of many great accomplishments, Aang, I’ve always believed that. I was the first one who believed that! Ending the war, rebuilding the Air Nation, and who knows what else?

**Aang:** Thank you for saying that. I know it’s hard, but I think you understand -- I have to focus on what I can accomplish. Helping the Air Nomads is the thing I think I can do right now. I’m… I’m sorry, but I have to leave. 

**Katara:** Aang… please. Don’t go. 

**Aang:** I’m sorry, Katara. 

[He leaves. Tashi approaches with a pebble.] 

**Tashi:** Will you tell Toph I say goodbye? 

**Katara:** Why don’t you tell her yourself? Or all airbenders cowards?!

[Katara storms off and Tashi drops the pebble she was holding. It is the little soldier that Toph made to represent herself.] 

[The bison take off, disappearing into the clouds, leaving Katara behind, watching them go, tears in her eyes. 

[Credits roll.]

  
  
  
  
  



	4. S3E4: Without Aang

**Season 3: Episode 4 -- “Without Aang”**

  
  
  


**Scene 1**

[Mountains -- exterior: Katara, Sokka, and Toph stomp down the mountains. Katara leads the way. She is upset.] 

**Sokka:** I don’t understand. He just  _ left _ ? 

**Katara:** [frustrated] That’s what I said, Sokka. He abandoned us. 

**Sokka:** So is he gonna go fight the Firelord with the airbenders? 

**Katara:** No! He gave up! He’s going into hiding. 

**Toph:** He’ll come back. He always does. 

**Katara:** [stops suddenly and rounds on Toph] No. He gave us up. End of story. 

**Toph:** _Okay_. What do we do now? 

**Sokka:** There’s a village down there. 

[ Cut to : Small fishing village, outskirts: Sokka, Toph, and Katara approach.] 

**Katara:** [lowered voice] This is a Fire Nation village!

**Sokka:** It can’t be, we’re hundreds of miles from the Fire Nation. 

[Toph grabs a nearby villager.]

**Toph:** What is this place? 

**Villager:** This is Fe-Sun. Be careful around here, kids. The Fire Nation came a few years back to keep an eye on the air temple. They don’t like newcomers. [walks away]

**Sokka:** Great. We need to find new clothes. We’re basically advertising our hatred of the Fire Nation in these! Then… [Sokka loses his train of thought. He is the planner, the strategizer, the guy who knows what comes next. But now there is no clear step forward -- there is no step forward at all. Not without the Avatar.] I don’t know. I guess I’ll head to the docks. See if there are any ships leaving soon. 

**Toph:** Where are we going? 

[Sokka shrugs.]

**Sokka:** I don’t know… Katara and I can try to find our dad and the other warriors from the Southern Water Tribe -- though I don’t even know where to start looking for them. 

**Toph:** So what am I supposed to do? Go back to the Earth Kingdom? Back to my mom and dad? [There is dread in her voice.]

**Katara:** [snaps] You make having a whole family and a safe place to live sound  _ so awful _ . 

**Toph:** Did I  _ do _ something to you? 

**Sokka:** Cut it out! Just wait here. I’ll be back with disguises. 

**Katara:** Wait! We need a plan. We can’t just give up.    
  


**Sokka:** What do you want me to say, Katara? Without the Avatar… we’re just three kids, far from home. I’ll be back. 

[Sokka leaves, head hung low.]

  
  
  


**Scene 2**

[Fire Nation prison -- interior: Guard 1 walks through the hallways. He passes by Iroh’s cell and stops, looks inside, and spits. Iroh, wrapped in his robes on the ground, turns to look at the intrusion. He seems dazed and confused.]

**Guard 1:** When I was growing up, my father told me the legends of the Dragon of the West -- but look at you. You’re nothing. 

[Iroh smiles weakly until the guard is gone. Then his face transforms; he is focused and irritated. Iroh pushes himself up and jumps to reach the bar overhead. Iroh does a pull up, though it is labored.]

  
  
  


**Scene 3**

[Fishing village -- exterior: Katara and Toph wander through a poverty-stricken neighborhood on the outskirts of town. People lie in open doorways and kids run through muddy streets.]

**Toph:** This place doesn’t seem like it’s doing so great. 

[A small child runs up to them.]

**Child:** Please, miss, do you have any food to spare? 

**Katara:** I’m sorry. We don’t. 

**Child:** Or any medicine? My momma’s been real sick for days. 

**Katara:** She’s sick? Do you think you could bring me to her? 

[Toph catches Katara’s arm and pulls her to the side.]

**Toph:** [whispering] What are you doing? You can’t heal this person -- the Fire Nation will figure out who you are in no time. 

[Katara frowns, frustrated. She turns back to the child and pulls out a small purse.] 

**Katara:** Here, take some money and then you can buy some medicine. 

[An old woman steps out from a nearby porch.]

**Woman:** You’re better off throwing that in the sea.

**Katara:** Why do you say that? 

**Women:** Fire Nation came down here a few years before the Avatar returned. Built that horrible navy base. [She hooks a thumb over her shoulder where an ugly fortress can be seen in the distance.] Fire Nation citizens started showing up soon after. Pushed us all out of the village our ancestors have lived in for generations. At first the excuse was we were too close to the Southern Water Tribe, said they knew we were trading with the waterbenders -- [scoffs] not that I’ve ever met one. Then it was that we were too close to the temple -- doesn’t matter that all the airbenders have been gone for a hundred years. What I’m saying is, when that child goes to buy some medicine for her mother, they’re more likely to give her a black eye and take the change. 

**Katara:** That’s terrible! Why doesn’t somebody do something? 

**Woman:** Do what? Food’s scare, clean water even scarcer. Fire Nation took everything livable about this village for themselves and pushed us down here. 

[Sokka arrives.]

**Sokka:** There you are! [He pulls them away.] I thought I told you to lay low, not go starting random conversations. 

**Katara:** People in this village are suffering. 

**Sokka:** People are suffering all over the world. Getting caught and imprisoned isn’t going to help any of them! Here. [He hands them each a bundle of clothes.] 

**Katara:** These are Fire Nation outfits!

**Sokka:** It’s our cover while we’re in town. Fire Nation citizens from the colonies. The next ship headed to the Earth Kingdom doesn’t leave for a week -- we’re going to have to blend in until then. 

[Katara and Toph follow Sokka out of the slums, but Katara looks back over her shoulder at the woman on the porch and child in the street.]

  
  
  


**Scene 4**

[Emerald Island -- interior of the Firelord’s mansion: a close up shot of Zuko and Mai sitting on the couch, making out. Mai pulls back and smiles.]

**Mai:** See? We found something entertaining to do. 

**Zuko:** Yeah, I guess this place isn’t so boring. 

[The camera pulls back to reveal that Azula and Ty Lee have been sitting here the whole time. They’re expressions are opposites -- Ty Lee is a sappy romantic, Azula a disgusted cynic.] 

**Azula:** Ah hem. As thrilling as this is for all of us…

**Ty Lee:** Aww Azula -- they’re in love! It’s so  _ lovely _ . 

**Azula:** It’s revolting. 

**Mai:** We’re not in  _ love _ . 

**Azula:** Ouch. [Finally she has found some entertainment in the situation.] 

**Ty Lee:** Aww you guys all found someone on Ember Island. I haven’t had any luck. 

**Mai:** You’re kidding right? The entire village lining up isn’t enough? 

**Ty Lee:** I think I’ve narrowed it down to Ti, Ruon, and Li. 

**Zuko:** [sarcastically] Tell us more!

**Azula:** Ti looks like a deformed potato. Ruon says he’s a firebender but he can barely make smoke. And Li … who’s Li? 

**Ty Lee:** She’s the girl who works at the ice cream cart.

[Close up on Azula’s face as her eyes narrow and her whole body becomes uncomfortable.] 

**Azula:** As if your father would allow that!

**Ty Lee:** [light and breezy] What he doesn’t know what hurt him. 

**Zuko:** This is mind-numbing. 

**Mai:** You know what’s less exciting than Ember Island? Hearing you moan about how unexciting it is for the thousandth time.

**Zuko:** What is your problem? Do you even like me? 

**Mai:** Why would I be kissing you if I didn’t like you? 

**Zuko:** You could act like it once in a while. 

**Mai:** We were  _ just  _ making out. It’s hard to find times to shower you in affection in between your rants about how your father sent you here to get rid of you or when you’re complaining about having nothing to do.

**Zuko:** [standing] I need some air. 

**Mai:** Take all the time you need. 

[Zuko exits.]

**Azula:** Aww Mai, you should go easier on him. He’s had such a tough life. [She is mocking.]

[Azula gets up and follows Zuko out to the porch.]

**Azula:** Don’t worry, Zuzu -- lovers quarrel all the time. 

**Zuko:** Like you would know. 

[Azula’s eyes twitch in rage, but she composes herself.] 

**Azula:** I just care for both of you so much. 

**Zuko:** Get out!

**Azula:** Actually, I was hoping to have a word with you. I think you’re right. 

**Zuko:** [has never heard these words come out of Azula’s mouth before] What? 

**Azula:** About Father -- the more I think about it, the more it seems like he has fabricated this entire vacation to get us out of town. Of course it makes sense that he’d send you away, he’s done it before. But it’s confusing that he sent us both. 

**Zuko:** Worried you’re not the favorite child anymore? 

**Azula:** Don’t forget that it was me who evened the scales between us, and I can undo them just as easily!

**Zuko:** So why don’t you?!

[Azula flicks her hair and takes a seat.]

**Azula:** What about the Avatar? 

[Zuko breaks out in nervous sweat.]

**Zuko:** What about him? Is he alive? Did you hear something? 

**Azula:** No. Nothing. You got in my head. Do you really think he could have survived? 

**Zuko:** I don’t know! It should be impossible -- but Katara -- the girl -- had magic water from the North Pole. 

**Azula:** Hmm. We have to find out. If he’s still alive, Father will be furious. [She seems nervous.] With both of us. [She stands up suddenly.] It’ll be okay. As long as we work together, as long as we’re on the same side -- it will all be fine. Swear to me, Zuko. 

**Zuko:** Swear what?

**Azula:** That I can trust my brother. 

**Zuko:** [shifts his eyes behind his hair] I swear. 

  
  
  


**Scene 5**

[Fishing village -- exterior, streets: Sokka walks down the main road alone. He passes by a tea house, where a couple of people are playing Pai Sho on the porch. He pauses to watch.] 

**Pai Sho Player 1:** You’re either slow or stupid, Jin. 

**Jin:** With those two options, I guess I’ll pick slow. [She slides a tile forward.]

**Pai Sho Player 1:** Your elephant-mule, your dragon, even your winged-badger are gone! It’s over. 

**Sokka:** But she still has the little flower thingy. 

**Jin:** Ah, the boy sees what you cannot -- the value of the little flower thingy!

[Player 1 and Jin exchange a rapid series of moves, over the course of which Player 1 becomes less and less confident. Suddenly he looks horrified -- then angry.]

**Pai Sho Player 1:** You cheated!

**Jin:** In a sense, playing against someone who does not value the white lotus  _ is  _ cheating. But in a much more real sense -- I won fair and square. [She takes the money bag from the table.]

**Sokka:** You can win money at this game? 

**Jin:** Pai Sho is a game of strategy, patience, and concentration. It is used by military commanders to sharpen their skills and spiritual leaders to enhance their divination. 

[Sokka blinks.]

**Jin:** [sighing] Yes, you can win money. 

**Pai Sho Player 1:** Wanna try your luck kid?

[Sokka sits down at the table and cracks his knuckles.]

**Jin:** The first lesson is how you arrange your tiles. Skilled players have been known to fold when seeing their opposition’s set up. 

**Pai Sho Player 1:** No helping, old woman. 

[Jin bows to Player 1.]

**Jin:** My apologies, young tigerhawk. [This is mockery, for Pai Sho Player 1 is far older than she.]

[ Cut to : Sokka hanging his head and pushing his coins to Player 1.] 

**Pai Sho Player 1:** Haha! Sorry, lad, there’s no such thing as beginner’s luck in Pai Sho. Come back tomorrow -- there is absolutely second day luck!

  
  
  


**Scene 6**

[Fishing village -- exterior, alleyways: Toph wanders through the crowd of seedy characters. She passes by a group that despairs as a dice player takes their money.]

**Dice Player:** Girl! Want to try your luck? 

**Toph:** I’m missing an eye. [She points to her face.] You wouldn’t really try to scam a blind girl would you? 

**Dice Player:** Scam? You wound me. Come, have a turn -- you don’t need sight play, just feel the dice. 

[Dice Player smiles wickedly, curiously Toph matches his expression.]

**Toph:** Feel the dice? I suppose I could try. 

[The Dice Player tosses the dice between three cups.] 

**Dice Player:** Seven-sided dice. Evens, I win; odds, you win. See? The chances are stacked against me. Now, you tell me when to stop. 

[We can see the dice passing between the cups. As Toph puts out her hand to stop him, the dice wobbles on its edge and flips against gravity.]

**Dice Player:** Aww, sorry, better luck next -- [his eyes go wide with shock] It can’t be!

**Toph:** [sweetly] Does that mean that I won? 

[The Dice Player passes over a bag of coins.] 

  
  
  


**Scene 7**

[Fire nation prison -- interior, Iroh’s cell: He is doing clapping push ups.

Cut to : Down the hall, the guard’s attention is called by the sound. When he arrives at Iroh’s cell however, he finds the prisoner wrapped in his robes, clapping off beat to a tune only he can hear.]

**Guard:** Pathetic old man.

[When the guard disappears, Iroh’s vision focuses on the spot where the guard was and he claps once in his direction.]

  
  
  


**Scene 8**

[Ember Island -- exterior, porch: Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Ty Lee gracefully pulls herself up onto an ornate dragon over the doorway. She loops a leg through the dragon’s neck and flashes a thumbs up. Azula passes her a wooden bucket. From the way Azula handles it, it must be very heavy. They giggle.] 

**Mai:** He is going to be so mad. [A smile pulls at her characteristic blank/negative expression.]

**Azula:** He’s always mad. Just call him. 

**Mai:** [putting her hands to her mouth] Zuko! Come out here!

[Footsteps can be heard and then Zuko pushes open the door. Ty Lee flips the bucket and water pours over Zuko. Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai crack up. Steam rises from an angry Zuko.] 

**Zuko:** What are you doing! How can you stand to be so  _ useless _ ? 

**Mai:** Geez, it was a prank, calm down. 

**Zuko:** Calm down? We’ve been too calm! Our country is in the middle of a war! People across the world are fighting and dying and we’re just sitting around here gossiping about Ty Lee’s boyfriends --

**Ty Lee:** [sliding into the frame, holding up one finger] I’m seriously considering a girlfriend! [slides out]

**Zuko:** Gossiping about Ty Lee’s  _ love life _ and pulling pranks. It’s pathetic!

**Azula:** Oh, Zuko, always so serious. 

**Ty Lee:** Yeah, Zuko -- why is enjoying yourself a waste of time? 

**Zuko:** You wouldn’t understand -- none of you. You got to waste time. It must have been so fun, living at the Academy, gossiping, playing pranks,  _ having fun _ . I never got to do any of that. 

**Mai:** So then why don’t you try some of it now?

**Zuko:** I can’t. That part of me is gone -- or it never existed. 

[Without saying another word, Zuko vaults over the railing onto the beach below. The girls exchange a look, Azula shrugs.]

  
  
  


**Scene 9**

[Fishing village -- exterior, morning: Sokka, Katara, and Toph walk through the village. Katara has deep circles under her eyes. As they walk, they pass an alley where people are gambling. Toph turns her attention to them, then back to Sokka and Katara to see if they noticed -- they didn’t.]

**Toph:** Ahh, I’ll be right back. 

**Katara:** Where are you going? 

**Toph:** None of your business, mom. 

[Toph heads down the alleyway. She pulls out her purse, stuffed with coins. The local gamblers look at her with dismay.] 

**Toph:** Hey, boys. Double or nothing? 

[ Cut to : Katara and Sokka.]

**Katara:** We should go find her. 

**Sokka:** She’ll be fine. She takes out tanks in her spare time. Come on, the Pai Sho tea shop is just around here. 

**Katara:** You woke me up early to play some game? 

**Sokka:** Oh, little sister, I was young and naive like you once upon a time. Pai Sho is more than a game -- it’s a metaphor for life. 

[They approach the tea shop which is far more crowded than the previous time we saw it.]

**Katara:** What’s everyone so excited about? 

**Villager 1:** Oh come in, come in! Tea is on the house. 

**Sokka:** What’s the occasion? 

**Villager 2:** Great fortune has come to this village!

**Villager 1:** Last night we were visited by the Painted Lady!

**Katara:** The Painted Who? 

**Tea Shop Owner:** [stepping forward, polishing a small statue, and holding it up for the kids to see] The Painted Lady! She is the spirit that guards this place. But ever since the Fire Nation moved in and built their horrible fort on top of her sacred land, she hasn’t been seen.

**Villager 3:** Until last night! She floated through the village, healing our sick and feeding our hungry!

**Sokka:** [scoffs] Are you sure it wasn’t just a spooky lady with medicine and food?

**Katara:** Don’t make fun of their patron spirit. 

**Sokka:** I’m just saying, it’s much more likely that someone from the village stole supplies from the fort and brought it back to the village. And I don’t have any problem with that. But let’s not go giving spirits more credit than they deserve. 

[The villagers glare at him. Before anyone can respond, the front door is kicked in and three Fire Nation soldiers enter in full armor. Katara and Sokka melt into the crowd.]

**Captain Ji:** Where’s the owner? 

**Tea Shop Owner:** I’m right here, as you well know, Captain Ji. What can I do for you today?

**Captain Ji:** We’re here to investigate claims of gambling being run out of this establishment. As you know, gambling is forbidden in the Fire Nation. 

**Tea Shop Owner:** Then I’ll be sure to avoid it -- if I’m ever in the Fire Nation. 

[Captain Ji grabs a nearby tea pot and smashes it on the ground. Katara steps forward, determination and anger in her expression. Sokka grabs her hand and holds her back.] 

**Tea Shop Owner:** I’ll put the cost of that on the navy’s tab. 

**Captain Ji:** As long as you don’t make up the cost with ill-gotten gambling, I don’t care what you do. 

[Captain Ji and his soldiers exit. The mood in the shop is much glummer compared with earlier. The tea shop owner nervously polishes.]

**Sokka:** If the Painted Lady were so powerful, she would solve the village’s real problem and find a way to get rid of the Fire Nation. 

**Tea Shop Owner:** Out, young man! Talk like that is very dangerous and I won’t have it in my shop!

**Sokka:** But I’m here to play Pai Sho and win my money back!

[ Cut to : The door slamming on Sokka and Katara.]

**Katara:** Brilliant, Sokka. 

**Sokka:** I didn’t say I was going to  _ gamble _ for the money!

**Katara:** [yawns] Whatever. I’m going back to sleep. Stay out of trouble. 

[Katara exits. Sokka sulks next to the tea shop. A figure detaches from the shadows -- it’s Jin.]

**Jin:** You are a bold young man. Not many have the courage to speak against the Fire Nation. 

**Sokka:** I called a bunch of jerks a bunch of jerks. [He shrugs.]

**Jin:** Do you really wish to learn the advanced arts of Pai Sho? I can’t get your money back, but I can show you secrets, codes, and messages long hidden from tyrants and the fools. 

**Sokka:** Well, I like money, but I really like secrets!

**Jin:** Come, pupil. 

  
  
  


**Scene 10**

[Fishing village -- exterior: Katara wanders through the streets. She passes by a message board without really taking it in -- but she backs up because one of the posters features a familiar face. Katara pulls down a parchment with a rough approximation of Toph on it. She storms off to find her friend.]

[ Cut to : Toph flipping a coin over her fingers in an alleyway in front of a crowd of onlookers. One man sits in front of her.]

**Toph:** It’s simple, folks. This is a golden arch. [There are gasps in the crowd. Toph smiles.] Ahh, I can hear some of you know what it’s worth. They say you can buy the robes off the Earth King’s back with one of these. I’m going to hold this here coin in one hand. [She passes it back and forth, using sleight-of-hand trickery to engage the audience.] And then, I’m gonna slam my hands down on the ground. [She does this for effect.] Then, you pick the hand that’s covering the coin. [She lifts up her right hand to show the coin.] You get it right, you get the arch, plus whatever you bet. You’re wrong? [She lifts her left hand to show empty ground.] I keep my coin and your bet. 

**Villager:** We all know the game -- now get on with it. 

**Toph:** What do you have for me?

**Villager:** My sword, from my time in the imperial army. 

[Toph shrugs but accepts the bet. She twirls the coin around a few times. The man's eyes track it intently. Then, in one swift movement, she closes her hands and slams them down on the earth. The man’s eyes bounce back and forth, then he points at her left hand.] 

**Villager:** That one. 

[Through a cross-sectional view, we can see that he was correct, but Toph uses earthbending to bury the coin and shift it under her right. She pulls up her hands.]

**Toph:** Sorry, better luck next time. Who’s up? 

[Katara enters.]

**Katara:** No one. You’re done. 

[The crowd oohs like when a middle school student is called to the principal’s office. Katara glares at them. She grabs Toph by the collar and drags her away. Toph scrambles to collect her loot. Part way down the alley, Toph struggles out of Katara’s grip.]

**Toph:** What is your problem!?

**Katara:** [shaking the wanted poster in front of Toph] What is this? 

**Toph:** Well it  _ sounds _ like a piece of paper. 

**Katara:** Oh. Right. Well, I know you’re scamming these people -- and worse you’re gambling. You’re needlessly attracting trouble!

**Toph:** Take a chill pill, I’m earning a little extra cash from gullible idiots. Most of them are Fire Nation colonizers anyways.

**Katara:** Toph, you weren’t at the tea shop this morning. A Fire Nation captain came in and attacked the owner -- and that was because he heard  _ rumors  _ of gambling! Imagine what they would do to you if they caught you!

**Toph:** I can handle myself. 

**Katara:** But there’s no reason --

**Toph:** You’re not my mom, Katara! And at the end of the week we’ll be going our separate ways. So I give you permission to officially stop caring about what happens to me -- okay? 

[Toph storms away. Katara stands still. She is shaken by how easily her tight-knit group of friends seems to be able to disregard their bonds. Is she the weird one? Was she the only one for whom this group was special -- a family?]

[Over the top of nearby rooftops, Katara can see a ladder being propped up and a painter climbing up to restore a statue. It is the Painted Lady. Katara looks at it for a long moment.]

  
  
  


**Scene 11**

[Fishing village -- interior night: Sokka and Toph sleep in a small inn room. A shadow passes over them as a figure exits the room quietly. It’s Katara, with costume items. 

Cut to : The outskirts of town. Katara freezes a puddle into a mirror. She uses a small container of red makeup to match the Painted Lady statue she saw earlier. Then she affixes a wide brim hat and shall. When she stands up, she is the image of the Painted Lady spirit. She raises her arms and summons mist to shroud her figure.

She approaches the poor neighborhood of the village and enters what appears to be a sick bay. Kneeling next to people, she heals them with waterbending, though the magic blue light that accompanies the process looks very much like spirit intervention. 

She moves to a woman whose face contorts in her sleep. Next to her, the small child Katara met on the first day sleeps, clutching her mother’s hand. 

As Katara exits, the child opens her eyes and sees the Painted Lady. She smiles.]

  
  
  


**Scene 12**

[Fishing village -- interior, morning: Sokka and Jin sit opposite one another at a Pai Sho table in a private home. Sokka plays with his lip as he concentrates, then he glances up at Jin and shifts a tile forward. Jin smiles.]

**Jin:** You are a quick study, Sokka. But you rush. They say you can learn much about a man by how he plays Pai Sho. You are bold and fearless -- but are you wise enough to show restraint? 

**Sokka:** Restraint? I’m trying to win!

**Jin:** Ahh, but patience and discipline win the day nine times out of ten. 

[She moves a tile from the side to capture the one Sokka just moved. Sokka groans and buries his head in his hands.]

**Sokka:** I submit. 

**Jin:** Don’t despair. You have many years to perfect the art. 

**Sokka:** But I want to be good enough now. 

**Jin:** I suspect that we are talking about something more than a game you learned about two days ago. 

**Sokka:** It’s just that, in my group of friends, I’m supposed to be the brains -- the strategist. I’m not…  _ special  _ like they are. But I don’t know if I’m wise enough. And now -- [Sokka squeezes his eyes shut] we’re falling apart and I can’t hold us together. 

**Jin:** Often the first step on the path to wisdom is humility. That you have. I cannot make you a master in a matter of days -- but I can show you some tricks. What think you of this tile? [She holds up the white lotus.]

**Sokka:** It’s a flower.

**Jin:** It must be your powers of perception that make you such a skilled battle commander. Yes, it is a flower. But it represents so much more. Beauty, reincarnation, enlightenment. Many will disregard the lotus tile in favor of the more obviously fearsome ones like the elephant or saber-tooth moose. They underestimate it. But for those who can truly appreciate the lotus flower -- who can see the life that surrounds them, even during the darkest hour, they have the most clarity. The white lotus can tumble the strongest empires, if those emperors ignore it. 

**Sokka:** It’s a flower. 

[Jin laughs heartily.]

**Jin:** Yes -- beautiful in it’s simplicity. Here, I want to show you a method for setting up your tiles that only the most  _ enlightened _ players use.

[ Cut to : exterior, the sun moving through the sky. Cut back to the interior, the light is dim. Sokka moves a tile across the table, in a seemingly identical move to the one from the morning. Jin frowns, slightly disappointed, and moves her tile to meet his. When Sokka does not respond, she looks up to see him grinning in satisfaction. She glances back at the board and notices the placement of Sokka’s white lotus. She smiles proudly and turns her tile over.]

**Jin:** Very good. Very, very good. Now promise me, you will keep practicing. You have much more to go -- but I think you have the makings of a formidable player. 

[Sokka grins proudly. The two get up and move to the door.]

**Jin:** Take my lotus tile. Use it when you are in need. 

**Sokka:** It’s a--

**Jin:** [holding up a hand] I know, Sokka, it’s a flower. And you can use it when you are in need. The white lotus has roots in all four nations, and I think a strategist that was able to pick up advanced Pai Sho techniques in a matter of days will be able to figure out how to use it. 

**Sokka:** [bowing] Thank you. 

  
  
  


**Scene 13**

[Ember Island -- exterior, beach, night: Zuko stands in the surf, kicking at the waves. Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai approach.]

**Azula:** I thought we might find you here. [She rolls her eyes.] We are very sorry about the hilarious prank that you did not enjoy. We promise to never involve you in something fun again. 

[Zuko shakes his head and ignores her.]

**Ty Lee:** Why don’t you talk to us, Zuko? You seem upset. 

**Zuko:** Oh do I? How perceptive. I didn’t think negativity existed in perfect Ty Lee world. 

**Ty Lee:** My life’s not so perfect. Stop trying to push away people who care about you. 

[Zuko squeezes his eyes shut. Of course his first and biggest thought is Iroh, the man who raised him the past three years, the man who is condemned to a filthy prison for the rest of his life. There are others too:

… A mother gone so long he can no longer remember the sound of her voice… 

… A girl with a crush on Lee, the teamaker’s nephew… 

… A young freedom fighter caught by brutal agents for speaking the truth… 

… A blue-eyed waterbender who cried over her mother’s death and offered to heal him of his ever present scar… 

In the present, Zuko can’t stand the images in my head any longer.]

**Zuko:** You don’t know anything about me!

**Mai:** Leave her alone. 

**Ty Lee:** I know you. I’ve known you for fourteen years. And I know when you’re trying to avoid yourself. 

**Zuko:** Huh, yes, you’re so insightful. I must have missed it behind all the [imitating her] ‘ _ look at me, I’m pretty Ty Lee, I do handstands and never feel angry or upset _ . [He does a handstand and falls into the sand.]

**Ty Lee:** [amused] You think I’m never angry or upset? You know I ran away from my family, right?

**Zuko:** You  _ chose _ to leave -- they didn’t kick you out. You’re a stuck up little girl looking for adventure who never made a real sacrifice in her life.  _ Circus freak _ .

**Mai:** Zuko!

**Ty Lee:** [shrugs and frowns] Call me a circus freak all you want -- it doesn’t bother me. At least a freak stands out. 

**Azula:** Here we go. 

[Ty Lee is more affected by Azula’s cold derision than Zuko’s outright mockery.]

**Ty Lee:** You try growing up with seven sisters. Our parents treated us like a group, a matched set. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to be different, I wanted to be  _ something _ . 

**Mai:** Guess that explains the never ending line of admirers. 

[Now  _ Mai _ is ganging up on her too??]

**Ty Lee:** _Excuse me?_

**Mai:** Attention issues? [She says this like it’s obvious.] You didn’t get enough at home, so now you seek it. 

**Ty Lee:** Well what’s your excuse,  _ Mai? _ If you’re so brilliant, explain to us why you ended up like  _ this _ . 

**Mai:** Like what exactly? 

**Ty Lee:** Depressed, cynical, sarcastic -- your aura is flat grey. 

**Mai:** You can’t see my aura. 

[Azula snickers.]

**Mai:** I don’t know what you want me to say to that. All of you are so strung out and emotional all the time. I’m not like that -- sorry. 

**Zuko:** [muttering] I wish you would be sometimes. 

**Mai:** Do you have something you want to say? 

**Zuko:** I said I wished you would express yourself! I feel like I never know what you’re thinking. 

**Mai:** What do you want from me? A breakdown every other day about how hard it was growing up as the only child of a wealthy, influential family? I’m not that deluded. My childhood was perfect, and I was the perfect child. My father wouldn’t have tolerated any less. 

**Zuko:** That must have been hard, all of those expectations. 

**Mai:** Don’t sympathize with me, I’m still mad at you. 

**Zuko:** Good! You should be! I’ve been acting like a jerk. 

**Ty Lee:** So talk about it! Why? 

**Zuko:** You guys want to compare messy childhoods!? My father decided to teach me a permanent lesson  _ on my face! _

**Ty Lee:** And what does that make you feel!

**Zuko:** What do you think! Angry! Confused! Alone. I spent the last three years -- every minute -- trying to get home, to restore my honor, so my father would accept me. And now I’m home and… I’m  _ here _ . I’m supposed to be on vacation, relaxing, enjoying my father’s appreciation -- but I’m angrier than ever. 

**Azula:** So who are you angry at? 

**Zuko:** No one. I’m just angry. 

**Azula:** It must be someone.

**Ty Lee:** Your dad? 

**Mai:** Your uncle? 

**Azula:** Me? 

**Zuko:** Stop!

**Ty Lee:** Just tell us. 

**Mai:** You can trust us. 

**Azula:** Answer the question. 

**Zuko:** [losing control] I’m angry at myself!

[He loses a column of flame over the ocean and collapses in the sand. After a moment, Mai joins him, putting a hand on his shoulder. From outside the frame, slow clapping.]

**Azula:** Bravo. Really. I think you all have promising careers on the stage ahead of you. 

**Zuko:** [almost whispering] What about you? 

**Azula:** Sorry, Zu, didn’t quite hear that.

**Ty Lee:** [crossing her arms] He said ‘what about you!’ Miss perfect princess. Anything you want to share?

**Azula:** [amused] I can’t think of a thing that would hold a candle to your sob stories. I could talk about any number of times my teachers were hard on me or I was ignored for being a girl. 

[Azula seems to find that idea funny. She examines her fingernails. Then, a thought strikes her. She rolls her head to look at Zuko.]

**Azula:** Or, I suppose I could talk about how my brother was kicked out of my family and I was the only one left to deal with my father’s rage. 

[What was meant to be a barb at Zuko turned into a raw nerve. Saying the unthinkable aloud (a mild criticism of her father) has opened a door. She rushes into her next statement.]

**Azula:** Or maybe my mom -- my own mother -- who thought I was a monster. 

[Azula catches herself, making the type of personal confessions she just ridiculed her friends for -- a swarm of emotions accompany it -- humiliation, foolishness, relief? Whatever it is, Azula wants none of it. She quickly collects herself and smiles easily.] 

**Azula:** Of course, she was right, but still, not terribly motherly. 

[Ty Lee steps up and moves to Azula’s side. Azula looks at her like an enemy approaching. But Ty Lee ignores it and sits down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She smiles at Mai and Zuko.]

**Ty Lee:** See! Azula’s human too! 

[Ty Lee squeezes the princess in a hug, resting her head on Azula’s shoulder. Azula’s first instinct is to shove Ty Lee to the ground, utter a devastating comment, and shoot lightning into the sky. Instead, she puts a tentative arm around her friend.]

**Mai:** Well. Now that we’ve all had earth shattering revelations -- can we please go home?

**Zuko:** Yes. [He gets to his feet and offers Mai his hand. Together they walk back inside.] 

[Ty Lee and Azula remain where they are for a moment. Azula is stressed; she has been shown so little affection, she isn’t even sure if she is receiving this correctly.] 

**Azula:** [blurting out suddenly] Did you make up your mind? About the ice cream girl? 

[Ty Lee shrugs]

**Azula:** Well if you want my opinion, I don’t think she’s good enough for you. 

**Ty Lee:** Cuz she’s a girl?

**Azula:** No! If you… if that’s what you want then you should be with a girl who’s… 

**Ty Lee:** What? 

**Azula:** Better. 

**Ty Lee:** Got anyone in mind? 

[For a moment, Azula regards Ty Lee. They are still sitting next to each other, arms tangled up. Their faces are so close, a slight movement of their necks, and they’d be kissing. Is that such an inconceivable idea? Ty Lee is superior to  _ Chan _ \-- that’s undeniable. Just like the powerful force pulling them together… 

They kiss.

For a moment, it is perfect -- better than perfect, it’s freedom.

The Azula breaks away. She’s panicked -- what has she done? What if someone saw??]

**Azula:** You can’t ever tell anyone about that! And… and it can  _ never  _ happen again.

[She probably intended to threaten, but it comes out more like begging. Ty Lee’s face contorts with hurt.]

**Ty Lee:** [whispering] You said you wanted me to find a better girl -- the best girl is right in front of me. 

[Azula bites her lips and stares at the stars above.]

**Azula:** We should go home. It’s late. 

**Ty Lee:** Azula… 

**Azula:** I’m going home. 

[Azula leaves Ty Lee alone on the beach.]

  
  
  


**Scene 14**

[Fishing village -- night, wide shot of village and military base: It is a quiet night, and dark -- the only light comes from a few stars. Slowly, a cloud of mist rises from the ocean, blanketing the town and fortress. 

Cut to : Fire Nation guards on the wall of the fortress -- they share a glance. But what are they supposed to do? It’s fog. 

Cut to : Villager walking home. He passes the Painted Lady statue and grins at it.

Cut to : Katara, dressed at the Painted Lady, sneaking down an alley. Two figures ahead of her detach from the shadows. Katara jumps. It’s Toph and Sokka. They have their arms crossed.]

**Sokka:** [whisper-yelling] What are you doing? 

[Katara’s shoulder slump. She takes off her hat.]

**Katara:** I’m sorry -- when it started I was just trying to heal the sick but then… they thought it was the Painted Lady. And I thought… [she pauses, her face becomes more determined] I thought, Katara, fugitive from the Fire Nation, can’t do much to help, but maybe an immortal spirit could. 

**Toph:** You attacked a Fire Nation base and then you go and yell at  _ me  _ for endangering our safety!?

**Katara:** I’m sorry--

**Toph:** You’re a hypocrite!

**Katara:** Not exactly -- I was taking risks to  _ help _ people. 

**Toph:** [scoffs] Right, sure. 

**Katara:** What does that mean? 

**Sokka:** Guys!

**Toph:** You think you’re better than everyone else. 

**Katara:** Well, between liberating oppressed people and scamming them for pocket change -- yes, I guess I do think one of them is better than the other!

**Sokka:** Guys!

**Toph:** Don’t try to defend her!

**Sokka:** No -- look!

[He points into the distance. From the ruins of the base, a battalion of soldiers are marching towards the village.]

**Toph:** What is the deal with you people -- I can’t look!

**Sokka:** They’re coming. The Fire Nation. 

  
  
  


**Scene 15**

[Fire Nation prison -- interior: Iroh languishes in his cell. A guard comes in to give him his dinner. He walks up to the cage and drops the tray. Iroh scrambles for the food, even though it has fallen on the dirty floor.]

**Guard:** What’s even the point of feeding you? 

[Iroh does not respond. He grabs an apple.] 

**Guard:** Disgusting.

[The guard exits. As soon as he is gone, Iroh glares after him. He puts the apple in his mouth, and rises. As he does, his robes fall off his shoulder, revealing that his sizable belly is in fact a rolled up blanket. He jumps up and grabs the bars above his head, swings his feet to lock in the bars, and does hanging crunches while eating an apple.]

  
  


**Scene 16**

[Fishing village -- exterior, night: Katara, Toph, and Sokka hide in the shadows while Fire Nation soldiers stomp by in formation. The captain’s voice echoes through the sleeping town.]

**Captain Ji:** Attention! All villagers come out of your home.

**Toph:** Great job, Katara, you really helped. 

**Sokka:** Stop! We need to get out of here.

**Captain Ji:** Attendance in the town square is mandatory. Anyone caught trying to flee will be taken into custody. 

[The kids glare at each other, frustrated and hopeless.]

**Sokka:** Okay -- Katara you need to go. Hide. 

**Katara:** But!

**Sokka:** You look like the Painted Lady! And you’re guilty. You need to get out of here!

[Frustrated, Katara runs into the shadows.]

**Toph:** I’m out of here too.

**Sokka:** What? You heard what the captain said. 

**Toph:** I’ll take my chances. 

**Sokka:** But, what about us? 

**Toph:** Face it Sokka! There is no  _ us _ anymore. What am I supposed to do when you guys find the Water Tribe warriors? I hate boats. Anyways, there’s no point. I came with you to train the Avatar. The Avatar’s gone and I’m not going to stay just so Katara can boss me around. 

[Toph turns to leave, but Sokka grabs her arm.]

**Sokka:** Wait!

**Toph:** Get off me!

[Soldiers appear at the entrance of the alley.]

**Soldier:** Hey! You there! Everyone must report to the town square. 

**Sokka:** Okay! We’ll be right there!

**Soldier:** Now!

[Sokka and Toph have no choice but to follow the soldiers.]

[ Cut to : Town square, where the Painted Lady Statue is -- villagers stand in a large group, muttering amongst themselves. Sokka and Toph remain on the outskirts. Captain Ji steps up onto a platform and the crowd quiets.] 

**Captain Ji:** This town is a disgrace! We offer security from outlaws and raiders from the Southern Water Tribe and how do you repay us? There have been a series of late night break-ins -- medicine and food have been stolen! And tonight weaponry was destroyed. This is a blatant attack against the Fire Nation and you can be assured that we will find the party responsible! Anyone who knows something must come forward immediately. 

[The crowd murmurs and glances at each other. From the middle, the child that Katara healed steps forward.]

**Child:** It was the Painted Lady! [she points at the statue behind Captain Jin.]

**Captain Ji:** Control your child!

**Villager 1:** The child is right, captain, it was the Painted Lady. 

**Villager 2:** I saw her too! She levitated jars of food and bags of rice into the village square! We didn’t know they were from the Fire Nation. 

**Villager 3:** She used her spirit magic to enter the fortress!

**Captain Ji:** Silence! There is no such thing as the Painted Lady -- you hide behind ghosts and lies to disguise your crimes! Until the true perpetrators are found, everyone stays here. 

[The villagers protest loudly. Ji sends a blast of flame over their heads to quiet them.]

**Captain Ji:** I don’t care if we’re here all night. 

[The villagers glare and gather in small groups, muttering amongst themselves. Sokka and Toph find a spot on the side.]

**Sokka:** Can I talk to you? 

**Toph:** You don’t have to apologize for her, you know. 

**Sokka:** I wasn’t going to. I know you’re mad at Katara, and whatever, she can be pretty annoying sometimes. When our mom was killed --

**Toph:** Let me guess, she pulled your whole family together and you never would have gotten through it without her. 

**Sokka:** No, she was insufferable. She immediately stepped up and took over all the responsibilities our mom did. She was this little pipsqueak, following me around, telling me to lace my boots or brush my hair. It was… [He makes a motion like he’s going to tear out his hair.] The whole time, I yelled at her, and told her to go away -- I basically begged her to leave me alone. She never did. 

**Toph:** So you’re saying it’s hopeless. 

**Sokka:** I’m saying that I can’t remember exactly what my mom looked like. But when I close my eyes and think of the person who took care of me, who loved me, even when I told her not to, I see Katara. Katara will always be there for the people she loves -- and if it’s gotten to the point that you would rather jump in the ocean than hear another word from her, that means you’re family. 

[Toph digs her toes into the ground.] 

**Toph:** You really think that? Katara sees me as family? 

**Sokka:** Of course she does. We all do. 

**Toph:** [standing suddenly] But Aang left!

[A few villagers look over. Sokka pulls her back down and slings an arm around her shoulders.]

**Sokka:** I know. I don’t know why. But Katara will never do that. Never. 

**Toph:** I guess it’s hard for me to believe. My own family never accepted me. Why would some girl from the Southern Water Tribe? 

**Sokka:** [smiling] She’s the best of us. She always has been. And I don’t want to be overly pessimistic, but I don’t think you’re gonna shake her very easily. 

**Toph:** Oh no. 

**Sokka:** I was joking! 

**Toph:** No. Katara never gives up. 

**Sokka:** I know. I just said that. 

**Toph:** No dummy! Do you think the Painted Lady is just going to sit around and let this town be punished?

[Sokka groans and buries his head in his hands. He gets to his feet.]

**Sokka:** All right. Let’s go. We can never have a quiet night playing board games, can we? 

[Behind a group of soldiers, Toph spins the earth beneath herself and Sokka so that they disappear beneath the groups. The soldiers look around, but there is no one to see.]

  
  
  


**Scene 17**

[Ember Island -- exterior, evening: Azula is outside Chan’s house. She is dressed in her normal Fire Nation princess/warrior attire. She knocks on the door, Chan answers. He is confused.]

**Chan:** Umm -- what are you doing here? 

**Azula:** Good evening, Chan. 

**Chan:** Are you like obsessed with me or something? Because it’s not going to happen.

[Behind Chan, an older man (Admiral) comes to the door.]

**Admiral:** Chan -- who’s here? We’re about to have dinner. 

**Chan:** It’s just --

**Azula:** [smiling and extending her hand] Princess Azula. Daughter of Firelord Ozai. 

[Chan’s face melts in horror while the Admiral bows deeply.] 

**Admiral:** Princess. It is an honor. What can we do for you? 

**Azula:** Oh nothing, Admiral. I’m actually leaving for the capital tonight. I just came to thank Chan for his hospitality this week. 

**Admiral:** Hospitality? 

[Behind him Chan is sweating.]

**Azula:** Yes! The parties of course. 

[The Admiral’s face goes red with rage and he turns to glare at his son.]

**Azula:** If you’re ever in the capital, Chan -- come to the palace. I’ll have to repay you some day. 

[Azula turns on her heel and leaves.] 

  
  
  
  


**Scene 18**

[Fishing village -- exterior, night: Katara dressed as the Painted Lady hides behind a boulder near the walls of the Fire Nation fortress. She bites her lip, takes a deep breath, and moves to step out of the shadows. An unseen hand grabs her by the back of her dress and pulls her back. It is Sokka and Toph.]

**Toph:** I hear you’re needlessly attracting trouble… 

[Katara bites her lip.]

**Toph:** Without me!

[Katara stares at Toph in wonder, then a smile breaks out on her face.]

**Katara:** Are you saying… 

**Sokka:** Yeah, yeah, yeah -- all is forgiven, we’re here to help, let’s get going! Soldiers are bound to walk by here sooner or later. What’s the plan? 

**Katara:** Umm… the plan? I dunno, I was just going to go break some stuff. 

**Toph:** I’m in!

[Sokka slaps his face into his hand.]

**Sokka:** Okay, okay, we need a permanent solution. We can’t stay here forever to protect these people. The problem is… the Fire Nation is underestimating the power of the Painted Lady. I’ve got an idea… 

  
  
  


**Scene 19**

[Fire Nation fortress -- interior, night: Two soldiers walk into the captain’s quarters.]

**Soldier 1:** Sir -- she’s here again! 

**Captain Ji:** Who -- and don’t say the Painted Lady. 

**Soldier 1:** You’d better come see for yourself, sir. 

[ Cut to : the fortress wall. Captain Ji looks around, and frowns. Fog surrounds the fortress. An eerie tune plays.] 

**Captain Ji:** There’s nothing--

[He sees that his soldiers are gaping at something over his head.]

[Captain Ji turns around to see, in the mist, the Painted Lady towering over him -- within the walls of the fortress. One of his soldiers becomes so terrified that they run away. 

Without speaking, Katara points at Captain Ji. Suddenly the metal walls on either side of him crumble away, leaving him standing on a slim tower alone. His eyes widen in horror. Slowly he gets to his knees.]

**Captain Ji:** P-p-Painted Lady -- 

[Katara raises a hand. Captain Ji flinches. Suddenly the mist envelops Katara. We can only see Captain Ji, in his own little bubble, unable to move. The sounds of chaos come from without -- stone rumbles, waves crash, and curious white and blue lights dance within the vapor.]

[The fog blows away suddenly, showing Captain Ji what has become of his base. The walls have all been damaged. A huge wave has busted out the seaward side and flooded the yard. Captain Ji himself rises into the air in a jet of water. He is shaking with fear.]

**Captain Ji:** Okay, okay! We’ll go, we’ll go! First thing in the morning.

[He rises higher.] 

**Captain Ji:** Tonight! Did I say morning, I meant we’ll leave tonight!

[Captain Ji slides back to earth on a plume of water. He and the remaining soldiers start making for the boats. Outside the villagers cheer.]

[ Cut to : Katara, Sokka, and Toph meeting back up at the boulder. They are winded and excited.]

**Toph:** That was amazing!

**Katara:** Are you kidding -- you just took down the wall of a Fire Nation base by yourself -- you’re amazing!

**Toph:** Well, you summoned a tsunami and washed away everything!

**Sokka:** Eh hem. 

**Katara:** You were great too, Sokka. It was your plan that made them leave. 

**Sokka:** And??

**Toph:** Umm you’re super brilliant? 

**Sokka:** [pulling out a reed pipe] Without the creepy music, the Fire guys would have never believed it was spirit magic!

[Katara and Toph frown for a second before bursting out in laughter. Katara pulls them into a hug.]

**Katara:** Toph, I’m sorry. I was being a hypocrite. 

**Toph:** No  _ I’m _ sorry -- you were right. You were using your skills to help people. I try to tell myself that I left home because I wanted adventure and no rules. But really, when you guys came to my town and found me, you offered me the chance to use my skills to help people. [She looks sad.] Training the Avatar was supposed to be the biggest way I could help the world. 

**Sokka:** Guys… [he looks deadly serious] you just took out a military base. Just the two of you. What if… this might sound crazy, but what if we finished the plan we’ve been working on all year. Think about it! Just the three of us, no pointy blue tattoos or huge flying bison. We could sneak through the Fire Nation and assassinate the Firelord on the Day of Black Sun. With no warning and your bending skills -- I really think we could do it. 

**Katara:** It was the  _ three _ of us that took down this base. We couldn’t have done it without you, Sokka. So… I’m in. As long as I have you two by my side. 

**Toph:** I’m in, too. Anything so I don’t have to go back to my parent’s house. 

**Sokka:** It’ll be really dangerous, and … with only three of us, it might be hard to get out. 

**Toph:** We’ve always known the dangers. It hasn’t stopped us before. 

**Katara:** Taking out the Firelord is the best way that we can help all the people of the earth, not just one village at a time. 

**Sokka:** All right -- we’re coming for you Firelord!

[The grip hands in the middle to seal the deal, and move off the beach. Katara trails behind and glances over the ocean. She notices a bright white light on the horizon, coming closer. Fifty meters off the beach, it stops. Katara squints -- it’s the Painted Lady! The Painted Lady smiles and bows to Katara.

Credits roll.]

  
  
  
  
  



	5. S3E5: The Avatar and the Phoenix

**Season 3: Episode 5 -- “The Avatar and the Phoenix”**

  
  


**Scene 1**

[The swamp -- exterior, day: Air bison land on the trunk and roots of the large tree. The airbenders begin dismounting and setting up camp. Dorje approaches Aang.]

**Dorje:** Aang, the swamp is a center of spiritual energy. Rinchen and Master Thok thought this would be a good place for you to continue working on your spiritual connections. The swamp is one of the few places in the world where we can come in peace and be our true selves. We try to visit when we can. 

[Tashi floats down out of the canopy.]

**Tashi:** I remember the last time we were here! Me and Rinchen dressed up as Niv the spirit of swamp gases. 

**Rinchen:** [bounces into frame]  _ Rinchen and I _ … [bounces away]

**Dorje:** And nearly scared Master Manu into an early grave, as I recall. 

**Tashi:** [smiling widely] Yeah! Awesome!

**Aang:** Well the last time I was here me and my friends were almost killed by a vine monster!

**Rinchen:** [bounces into frame]  _ My friends and I _ … [bounces away]

**Tashi:** You mean Huu?

**Aang:** [shocked] You know Huu??

**Swampbender:** [unseen] Who? 

[Aang turns in shock. Swampbenders are emerging and greeting the nomads. Aang goes to confront them.]

**Swampbender:** Whoa got some serious negative mojo coming from this one. 

**Swampbender 2:** I think I recognize that little guy. He had less hair last time.

**Aang:** You guys  _ knew _ about the airbenders and you didn’t tell me? 

**Swampbender:** What airbenders? Oh  _ these _ airbenders?

**Swampbender 2:** We thought you would have known about them. You had the tattoos and everything. 

**Aang:** Maybe next time you should check! [He takes a step forward and cries out in pain, wrapping his arms around himself.]

[Rinchen appears behind Aang and gently pulls him away.]

**Rinchen:** I have an observation. 

**Aang:** That the swampbenders might be some of the stupidest people on the planet? 

**Rinchen:** Have you noticed a pattern about when your injury hurts you the most? 

**Aang:** Yeah when I try to bend--

**Rinchen:** Were you going to bend at them?

**Aang:** No. I was angry enough to firebend though. 

**Rinchen:** That’s what I think, Aang -- anger seems to trigger your injury. This is more evidence that it is not just a physical injury, but an injury to your spirit as well. I think we need to focus on reestablishing your connection to the spirit world. 

**Aang:** You’re right. Without my past lives, I will never be able to access the Avatar State.

**Rinchen:** And the Avatar Cycle might end entirely. 

**Aang:** Let’s get started. 

**Rinchen:** The spiritual master of the swamp will know that we are here by now. He usually comes to say hello. I think he could be a big help. I’ll introduce you. 

**Aang:** [smiling] I have a hunch that I’ve already met him.

[Suddenly a giant vine monster emerges from the swamp, towering over the airbenders. Then the vines part and Huu, a round man in a leaf-loincloth, waves.]

**Huu:** Well, well, the Avatar found his pack, did he? 

**Rinchen:** I guess you guys do know each other. I was hoping you could help us, Huu. Aang needs to get in contact with the spirit world and locate his past lives. 

**Huu:** Hmm, sounds serious. 

**Aang:** It is. I was injured. I … almost died. 

**Huu:** That’s one way to get to the spirit world. 

[ Cut to : Aang, Rinchen, Thok, and Huu on the root of the banyan tree. They sit in a circle, eyes closed.]

**Huu:** This is where I achieved enlightenment. What I came to realize is that the spirit world is not a place separate from our own world, but instead one laid on top of our own, like a veil. It extends in all directions, covering the planet but also going within to the fiery core and out to the frozen stars. 

**Thok:** Technically, we are all in the spirit world now, but our mortal eyes need intense focus in order to see and interact with it. That’s why we meditate. 

**Aang:** Is there any way to interact with both worlds at once? Is there a way to see the spirits but affect things in the mortal world? 

**Rinchen:** [smiling] One person can. 

[Aang gulps as he realizes who Rinchen means. He smiles back however, and then settles into a meditative stance, with his eyes closed. The four breathe in and out, in and out.] 

[Suddenly the image changes to Aang being struck by lightning. He cries in pain and falls to the earth, but the camera angle shifts so that Aang appears to be falling up -- through the cavern floor into the purple cosmos. The path of light leads to a giant version of Aang. Unlike in season 2, the giant spirit form does not glow. It looks cold and empty. Aang turns away from the visual reminder of what he has lost and sees that the expanding pyramid of Avatars is behind him. In some form. Instead of the familiar faces and figures of Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, and others, Aang is faced with white vapors, unclear forms.]

[As he watches, however, the one closest, where Roku should sit, becomes more defined. After a few moments, the outlines of Roku are perfect. Spirit Roku opens his eyes and smiles.]

**Roku:** Aang. 

**Aang:** [ecstatic] Roku!

**Roku:** It has been some time. We have much to discuss, the eclipse and Sozin’s comet draw nearer each day. 

**Aang:** [looking away] I’m not doing that anymore. Roku, I found other airbenders. 

**Roku:** [smiling] Ah, that must have been wonderful, Aang.

**Aang:** It was. It is. I thought I had lost them forever. 

**Roku:** Nothing is ever truly gone. 

**Aang:** Well, right now my spiritual connection is. I need to spend all of my energy on rebuilding that so that the Avatar Cycle can continue. And so that I can access the Avatar State. 

**Roku:** [still smiling] I wish that you could focus on one thing at a time. Unfortunately, there is only one Avatar at a time, and the Avatar belongs to the whole world. 

**Aang:** [getting defensive] I know! But the Avatar needs to be strong enough to protect the world. Otherwise -- it’s useless. 

**Roku:** [putting a hand on Aang’s shoulder] Hmm, perhaps I am speaking more of myself than of you. Would you allow me to show you some events from my life? 

**Aang:** Umm, yeah that would be okay. As long as we can focus on my spiritual connection. 

**Roku:** You’re in the spirit world, talking to the spirit of your past self who is inviting you on a spirit quest into the past. Let an old man tell you a story. 

**Aang:** [laughs] Okay, let's do it. 

[Through the starry background, a dragon emerges and flies closer. When he arrives, Roku and Aang mount up and fly back to earth.]

  
  
  


**Scene 2**

[Garden in the royal Fire Nation estate -- exterior, daylight: Two teenage boys spar. One is tall and lanky; this is Roku. The other is stockier, with defined muscles; this is Sozin. Using a root sticking out of the ground to his advantage, Sozin defeats Roku. He helps Roku up from the ground. Aang and Roku, in spirit form, watch at a distance.]

**Sozin:** Too slow. 

**Young Roku:** The tree did all the work!

**Sozin:** It’s okay, Roku. It is respectable to lose to an elder. 

**Young Roku:** An elder by three hours. [He bows deeply and mockingly] Sifu Sozin. 

**Aang:** You and Fire Lord Sozin were  _ friends _ ?

**Spirit Roku:** Back then, he was just Prince Sozin. And he was my best friend. 

**Sozin:** [to young Roku] Are you excited for the party tonight? I invited Ta Min!

[Young Roku blushes]

**Young Roku:** It’s not a party. You’re officially becoming the Crown Prince. Can you imagine me there? [Draws himself up to his full height and makes a squinted-eye expression.] Oh yes hello there, very well and good about the future of the Fire Nation becoming a man tonight but have you heard that it is also _my birthday?_ [Drops the act.] Your grandfather would love that. 

**Sozin:** [laughing] Don’t worry about my grandfather. He’ll get the big celebration he’s wanted, and I’ll have my best friend with me.  _ And _ we’re going to get you a girlfriend. 

[Young Roku laughs and follows Sozin out of the yard.]

**Aang:** I don’t understand. You two were enemies. What happened? 

**Roku:** We don’t want to miss the party. 

[ Cut to : Party time. Night time in one of the Fire Lord’s vast courtyards. Colorful lanterns light the space and crowds of people gather in their finest garments. Sozin kneels at the top of the steps while an elderly sage fastens a decorative headpiece in Sozin’s hair. Sozin rises and the crowd cheers. Another man with white hair and beard, steps forward; this is Sozin’s grandfather, the current Fire Lord. Spirit Aang and Roku stand off to the side.]

**Fire Lord:** Before you stands the future of the Fire Nation. We were all gravely saddened by the loss of my son and Sozin’s father at the hands of those treacherous air nomads. We are given new life by my grandson. He is strong and clever and will be a great Fire Lord in his time!

**Aang:** What is he talking about? Air nomads would never kill anyone!

**Spirit Roku:** I don’t know, Aang. This is the story we were given in the Fire Nation. But after spending time at the air temple, I began to question it myself. I never received a satisfactory answer. 

**Fire Lord:** However, tonight we celebrate not one outstanding young man, but two. Roku, please step forward. 

[Sozin looks confused. He and Roku share a glance as Roku steps out from the crowd of family and friends. Neither one of them was prepared for whatever is about to happen. Roku bows before the Fire Lord.]

**Fire Lord:** Rise. 

[Roku stands and the Fire Lord beckons for the sage to return.]

**Sage:** Just as the seasons cycle from winter, to spring, to summer, to fall and back again, the Avatar Cycle goes from fire, to air, to water, to earth, and back to fire. Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom lived many long, prosperous years, keeping the power of the Avatar away from the Fire Nation. But even Great Kyoshi could not stop the turn of the cycle, and the Avatar has returned to the Fire Nation after nearly four centuries. Citizens of the Fire Nation, tonight we recognize the new Avatar: Avatar Roku. 

[A hush falls over the crowd as citizens bow. Roku himself looks stunned. He turns to Sozin, but finds his head bowed like all the others.]

  
  
  


**Scene 3**

[Fire Nation palace -- interior, Zuko’s room: A servant lays out Zuko’s clothing on his bed. Zuko grabs the tunic, but notices that the symbol on the front has been changed. Instead of the simple flame that is the Fire Nation emblem, it is now a bird emerging from a flame.]

**Zuko:** What is this? Where are my usual clothes?

**Servant:** I’m sorry, sir, these are the alterations that the Fire Lord requested. 

**Zuko:** My father made changes to our clothes? 

**Servant:** I know that he requested the royal seal be changed on all garments, armor, and locations within the palace. 

[Zuko slips the tunic over his shoulders and regards the new symbol upside down.]

**Servant:** Is the prince displeased? 

**Zuko:** No. Just confused. You can go. 

[The servant disappears as Zuko finishes belting his robes. He looks one more time, confused, at the symbol.]

[ Cut to : Fire Nation Palace -- exterior, courtyard: Mai and Ty Lee hang out by the turtleduck pond. There is a target set up that Mai throws a small knife into. It quivers in the bullseye.]

**Mai:** It’s all in the wrist. 

[Ty Lee takes a knife, holding it awkwardly. Her attempt bounces off the target.]

**Mai:** A little harder. 

[Zuko enters.]

**Zuko:** Have you seen my father? 

**Mai:** Good to see you, darling. 

**Ty Lee:** [lining up another shot, one eye closed] He’s  _ your  _ dad. 

**Zuko:** What about my sister? 

[Ty Lee releases the knife -- it misses the target completely. A crashing and shout of surprise comes from off screen. Ty Lee grits her teeth.]

**Ty Lee:** Sorry! [to Zuko, bitterly] I haven’t seen Azula since we got back from Ember Island. 

**Zuko:** [groans] What are you guys good for anyways? [storms away]

**Mai:** Love you too. 

[Ty Lee looks at the knife in her hand, then a lightbulb flashes over her head as she gets a new idea. Shaking off her slipper, she fits the knife in between her toes and lightly flips up onto her hands.]

**Mai:** No way. 

[Ty Lee throws the knife with her foot. It connects with the target, a few inches from Mai’s knife.] 

**Mai:** You are truly a talented freak. 

[Ty Lee smiles hugely.]

[ Cut to : Fire Nation Palace -- interior, tea room: Azula sips tea. Her chest is also emblazoned with the new symbol. Zuko enters. He sees her garments.]

**Zuko:** You have it too.

**Azula:** Did you think Father made a new symbol just for you?

[Of course Zuko didn’t think that, but Azula’s comment makes Zuko realize that he is always concerned about being removed from his family, even symbolically.]

**Zuko:** What does it mean? 

**Azula:** Progress, evolution, who cares?

**Zuko:** It must mean something. 

**Azula:** [Azula shrugs.] Dad called it the phoenix. It’s from some super old poem. The symbol is exclusively for the royal family. [Dismissively] Go to the library if you want to learn more. 

[ Cut to : Zuko in the library. He is speaking with a librarian. He raises his arms in frustration.]

**Zuko:** I don’t know what the poem is called; I don’t know who wrote it! It’s something about a phoenix.

**Librarian:** I’m sorry, sir. It just -- a phoenix is a bird that bursts into flames. It’s a pretty common theme in Fire Nation poetry. 

[Zuko groans in frustration. The librarian bows and backs away. Zuko begins pulling scrolls out at random. From off screen, a new voice speaks.]

**Novice:** Pardon me, sir. I heard you were looking for a poem about the phoenix. 

**Zuko:** Do you know it? 

**Novice:** I have a hunch. If I’m right, the poem you’re looking for isn’t here. 

**Zuko:** [sarcastically] Great.

**Novice:** It’s housed in the secret parts of the Dragonbone Catacombs. But, as prince of the Fire Nation, if you requested to see it, they would have to show it to you. 

**Zuko:** [thinks it over] You’re coming with me. 

**Novice:** As you wish, my prince. 

**Zuko:** And we aren’t requesting anything. 

**Novice:** As you say.

  
  
  


**Scene 4**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior, hallway, nighttime: the spirit forms of Roku and Aang stand in a hallway in front of an ornate set of closed doors.] 

**Aang:** So after you were named the Avatar, is that when Sozin became your enemy? Was he jealous?

**Spirit Roku:** I certainly thought he would be. [Roku raises his arm. Aang sees the younger version of Roku walking towards them, towards the closed doors they stand in front of.]

[The younger version of Roku is nervous. He is wringing his hands, and paces back and forth in front of the door. He is muttering to himself, rehearsing some sort of speech, and not paying attention to his movements. He knocks into a large vase, sounds a loud crash through the still night. The doors swing open and Sozin sticks his head into the hallway. He looks annoyed, but his expression changes as he recognizes his friend.]

**Sozin:** Roku! What are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night. 

**Young Roku:** I’m sorry, Sozin!

**Sozin:** [perplexed] It’s okay -- it’s just a vase. It doesn’t even look broken. 

**Young Roku:** No. I totally overshadowed your crowning ceremony. I’m so sorry. It was supposed to be your night, and I ruined it. 

**Sozin:** [laughs and grips Roku’s forearm] What are you talking about? You didn’t ruin anything. 

**Young Roku:** I didn’t?

**Sozin:** No, of course not. Were you really worried that I’d be upset? I’m ecstatic!

**Young Roku:** Really? 

**Sozin:** Of course! Think about it, Roku. You are the Avatar, someday I will be Fire Lord. Right now, in this hallway, stand two of the most powerful men in the entire world! Think about all of the good we can do!

**Aang:** Good?!? 

**Spirit Roku:** Yes. Sozin’s words were an inspiration to me as I began my Avatar training. 

**Aang:** You can’t be inspired by him! He’s a murderer. 

**Spirit Roku:** [looking at his friend sadly] Not yet. That is what is so difficult about evil, and what makes fighting it so hard. No person imagines themselves to be the villain. Every person can find a way to explain their actions to themselves. Some people can find a way to justify the most heinous atrocities. But we will get to that. For the moment, Sozin and I parted as friends. 

[Scene begins to reform. Now Young Roku is dressed in the trappings of an air nomad. He stands with a group of novices, all carrying glider staffs.] 

**Aang:** The Southern Air Temple!

**Spirit Roku:** Indeed. It was the first stop in my Avatar training. And believe it or not, it was my first time outside of the Fire Nation. I was shocked by how different their way of life was from mine. 

[The air nomads take off into the air. Young Roku goes last, trying to summon the courage to jump into empty space with only a wooden staff to support him.]

**Aang:** Yeah, I guess the other nations don’t usually go flying. 

[Young Roku jumps from the cliff, extends his glider, and lets out a triumphant whoop of enjoyment as he rides the currents.]

**Spirit Roku:** That is true, but it’s not what I was referring to. 

[The scene shifts to the boys dormitories, where Young Roku is the only one awake, writing a letter by candlelight while the other novices slumber.]

**Spirit Roku:** In Fire culture, we revere our family lines above all else. Duty and honor all derive from familial responsibilities. The Fire Lord is regarded as the father of every man, woman, and child in the Fire Nation. Thus, all family structures eventually lead to him. 

**Aang:** Oh. That is different from Air culture. 

**Spirit Roku:** Yes. None of my fellow classmates even knew their mother or father.

**Aang:** But the monks and nuns take up those roles -- so every child has multiple caregivers. 

**Spirit Roku:** Yes, I learned in time. But it was very jarring when I first arrived. The Air nomads focused so much on spirituality -- and on fun. 

[Young Roku extinguishes his candle and finds his bunk by the light of the moon coming from a window. As he lays down, a thin thread is tripped, releasing some sacks of water hanging over the bunk. The dormitory erupts in laughter as the other novices celebrate their prank.]

**Young Roku:** We didn’t take a lot of time for fun in the Fire Nation. We were taught to minimize distractions from our duty. It took me a long time to understand that when the other nomads pranked me, it meant they accepted me. 

[Young Roku literally steams with anger as the air nomads bounce and float around him until one offers him a towel and the rest work together to dry out his things.]

[The scene dissolves again, reforming this time in the icebergs of the Water Tribes. Young Roku is a bit taller, and has the beginnings of a beard on his cheeks. He stands on a relatively small iceberg across from a man dressed in water tribe clothing with braids and hairpieces. They spar.]

**Spirit Roku:** My lessons on the other nations continued in the Northern Water Tribe. Here, I was again culture-shocked when I discovered relatively primitive way of life the people of the Water Tribes still held. 

**Aang:** What do you mean? The Northern Water Tribe is basically one big palace made of ice!

**Spirit Roku:** Yes; it is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the entire world. But when I was a young man, I saw that as a feat of bending. In the Fire Nation, though we revered the firebending tradition, we expected all citizens to be productive to society, regardless of ability. In the Water Tribe, it seemed like everyone lived off the acts of a few. It was even worse in the Southern tribe. 

**Aang:** [getting angry] What do you mean? 

**Spirit Roku:** [smiles at Aang] You’ve been to both. Which one is in better shape? Which one has more buildings and benders and opportunities for their people? Which one was better prepared when the Fire Nation attacked? 

**Aang:** The North. 

**Spirit Roku:** Through my eyes, after living in the Fire Nation for my whole life, I saw that as weakness. The North and South are the same people, yet one lives in luxury, and the other is unable to help themselves. 

**Aang:** You’re wrong. 

**Spirit Roku:** I know. But I didn’t at the time. 

**Aang:** Where are we going next? Going to trash the Earth Kingdom now? 

**Spirit Roku:** If you insist. 

[The scene dissolves once more. When it reforms, Spirit Roku and Spirit Aang do indeed look at a scene within the Earth Kingdom. Roku, now with a full beard, wears green and stands in a quarry, where huge slabs of rocks are being mined by earthbenders. His teacher, a strong man in a sleeveless tunic, delivers attack after attack. Roku defends.]

**Spirit Roku:** This is Sud, my favorite master. 

[Younger Roku manages to turn around an attack and knock his master over. Sud falls theatrically and begins to make a snow angel in the solid rock beneath him.]

**Aang:** So you liked the Earth Kingdom. 

**Spirit Roku:** Parts of it. 

[ Cut to : Roku and Sud walk along the edge of the quarry. Roku looks down into the mine and sees poor, dirty, exhausted people working below. Sud does not notice them.]

**Bao:** Come on, Roku! I asked the kitchen staff to create a special meal for your last day. We don’t want to miss the spiced hogmonkey. 

**Spirit Roku:** [to Aang] For Sud and myself, we were eating spiced hogmonkey while poor Earth Kingdom citizens toiled in the hot sun. 

**Aang:** But… How is that different from the Fire Nation? Are you saying that the Fire Lord doesn’t eat better than his citizens? 

**Spirit Roku:** [proudly] At 12 you are wiser than I was at 23. You are right, there is inequality everywhere. It would take a hundred Avatars a hundred lifetimes to eradicate it. 

[ Cut to : Roku and Sud walk through town. Shirtless children play in the streets, while tired adults lie or sit in doorways. Roku and Bao are headed towards an elaborate, walled estate.] 

**Spirit Roku:** But the Earth Kingdom … stood out. People starved in the streets, feet away from people who couldn’t get through all of the food that they had. Nobles hoarded wealth and commoners starved.

**Aang:** People don’t starve in the Fire Nation!?

**Spirit Roku:** Of course they do, Aang. Just as people starved among the nomad tribes. 

**Aang:** [bursting with anger] I know! I know all of this! Why are you showing me this? Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Mission accomplished. I’ve felt guilty for a hundred years!

[The scene begins to dissolve, so that Aang and Roku no longer stand in the Earth Kingdom, they don’t seem to be anywhere in particular.]

**Spirit Roku:** Do you remember your work with Guru Patik?

**Aang:** Of course I do. I abandoned it just in time for Azula to blast my last chances of connecting with the Avatar State!

**Spirit Roku:** You are attaching a lot of significance to your injury. But what did Guru Patik say about guilt? 

**Aang:** He said it blocked up my chakras. But I let go of my guilt! It was Katara I couldn’t leave behind. 

**Spirit Roku:** [thinks about what Aang has said] And yet, you are in the swamp, without her. 

**Aang:** I’m trying to do my duty as the Avatar -- but everyone seems to have a different idea of what that means! 

**Spirit Roku:** [laying a hand on Aang’s shoulder] I understand. Truly, I do. Many will try to tell you what the Avatar is ‘supposed’ to do. But the cosmos selected you, Aang, air nomad of the Southern Temple, for a reason. Whatever choice you make, that will be the Avatar’s destiny, for you are the Avatar. 

[Aang bows his head.] 

**Spirit Roku:** I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, Aang. No one can make you feel something you don’t already feel. If it’s any consolation, guilt is something your past lives have contended with for eons. 

[Aang regards Roku.]

**Spirit Roku:** Being the Avatar is a great honor, and a terrible burden. Enormous power, crushing responsibility. All on the shoulders on one person. 

**Aang:** Roku… can a spirit feel guilty?

**Spirit Roku:** Come. Let’s go observe how wars begin. 

  
  
  


**Scene 5**

[Fire Nation -- Dragonbone Catacombs, exterior: Zuko and the Fire Sage novice walk through an imposing courtyard decorated with huge femur bones and braziers of flame. There is no one about. Although they are the prince and a novice of this order, they move stealthily, as if worried about being caught.]

**Novice:** The Dragonbone Catacombs hold the secret histories and discoveries of the Fire Lord and his family. 

**Zuko:** I know! You think I don’t know about my own family?

**Novice:** My apologies, sir. 

**Zuko:** [more calmly] I haven’t been here in years. 

**Novice:** We don’t get many visitors -- aside from school trips. But the sages keep the place in perfect order, in case someone comes calling. 

**Zuko:** I don’t want it to get back to my family that I was poking around here. 

**Noice:** As you wish, sir. 

**Zuko:** You don’t have to call me that. Sir. You’re probably older than I am. 

**Novice:** Respect can be given at any age. Here. 

[The stop over a circular covering in the floor. In the center is the flame emblem.]

**Novice:** It’s a firebending lock, you just have to… 

[Zuko is already crouching down and delivering a blast of flame straight into the emblem. The covering retracts, revealing a spiral staircase.]

**Zuko:** Lead the way. 

[ Cut to : Zuko and the novice walk down a hallway lined with dragon skulls. Zuko peers in their ferocious jaws, but they don’t bother the novice.]

**Zuko:** Why is this poem so important? 

**Novice:** It’s not a poem, sir. Or, I should say it is not  _ only _ a poem. At the time it was created, and for many generations following, the short verses were regarded as a prophecy. 

**Zuko:** A prophecy? About what? 

**Novice:** You tell me. 

[The novice stops in front of one of the skulls. He reaches within and pulls out an ornate scroll. He hands it to Zuko.]

**Zuko:** [reading from the scroll]

_ The roaming star draws the hour _

_ Firebenders all are called to power. _

_ Deception, abduction, combustion, and farce, _

_ Each march past to test his heart. _

_ Death and destruction boil over _

_ Demanding now a hero bolder. _

_ Within, imperial and spiritual mix, _

_ Rising from ash, as the Phoenix _

_ When the flaming star is at its zenith _

_ The Phoenix will advance beneath it . _

_ Love, kin, and pride abandoned, _

_ Yet the hero continues standing. _

_ The Phoenix’ command: the world remade -- _

_ Or doomed to watch it slip away. _

[Zuko shakes his head and frowns.]

**Zuko:** This is just a bunch of random gibberish. 

[The novice laughs heartily, echoing down the empty hallway.]

**Novice:** [winking] Sages make their living in random gibberish. [He sits on the floor. He really does look young.] Come now, my prince, you’re an educated man. What do you think it means?

**Zuko:** [glares, and considers yelling at him for insolence, but instead turns back to the scroll] You said it was a prophecy. It’s about a hero. A person who is going to remake the world. The Phoenix.

**Novice:** A person? Any person? 

**Zuko:** A firebender. Someone who is an ‘ _imperial, spiritual_ _mix’_. [He turns questioningly to the novice.]

**Novice:** Any guesses on the roaming, flaming star? 

**Zuko:** A comet. 

**Novice:** Sozin’s Comet. This prophecy has been in Fire Nation lore since before the catacombs were built. Since Azra the Great stopped the volcano on this island, and founded the Fire Nation itself. Do you know where she got the power to accomplish such a feat?

**Zuko:** Sozin’s Comet? 

**Novice:** Back then it was just called the Great Comet. It comes to our world every hundred years, granting firebenders nearly unlimited power. And every one hundred years, some royal wonders if they are the Phoenix. 

**Zuko:** My great-grandfather thought he was the Phoenix?

**Novice:** [winking] One of them did. 

**Zuko:** That’s why he attacked the Air nation. He used the power of the comet to create the circumstances of the prophecy. Deception -- the attack was an ambush. Abduction -- his father was abducted by nomads. Combustion -- that’s obvious. Farce? 

**Novice:** The biggest farce is that he did all that in the name of being the Phoenix, and then it turned out he wasn’t. 

**Zuko:** How do you know he wasn’t?

**Novice:** Hmm, I supposed that’s a question for philosophers. All I can say is how I see the world -- and I can’t say I saw it remade. 

**Zuko:** “ _ Or doomed to watch it slip away. _ ”

**Novice:** Good point. Anyways, your father, his royal highness, ordered all the emblems of his family changed to a phoenix rising from flames, right before the comet is due to return. 

**Zuko:** He thinks he’s the Phoenix. 

**Novice:** Do you disagree? 

[Zuko snaps the scroll shut and returns it to the dragon’s skull.]

**Zuko:** Prophecies are just destinies written down. 

**Novice:** And…?

**Zuko:** I don’t believe in either. 

  
  
  


**Scene 6**

[Roku’s home island -- exterior, day: When we have visited Roku’s home before, it was a destroyed place, covered in volcanic rock and ash, without any signs of life. Now, however, as Spirit Roku and Spirit Aang soar towards it on dragonback, it is a tropical paradise with a huge estate built into the hillside.]

**Aang:** Is that your island?

**Spirit Roku:** It is. This island -- before it erupted -- was the honorary home of every Fire Nation Avatar. Everytime a new Fire Avatar was realized, they would rename the island. We are about to enter the day when this island changed from ‘Szeto’s Island’ to ‘Roku’s Island.’

**Aang:** Wow, a whole island just for the Avatar. 

**Spirit Roku:** The air nomads had a similar tradition, a sacred place for the Avatars from their culture. But it was a secret place. I never saw it. I hope you find it one day. 

**Aang:** I hope so too. [Aang wants this secret air nomad place so much.]

[Below the spirits, a Fire Navy boat docks in the harbor. The camera zooms in to see Roku, followed by a formal procession of his bending masters, down the dock. On land, Sozin and an honor guard wait for him. The ritual is very traditional -- until Sozin breaks rank and runs to hug his friend. Roku responds with enthusiasm. When Sozin pulls away, he wipes a tear from his eye.]

**Sozin:** Roku… I’ve missed you. 

**Roku:** I’ve missed you too, my friend. 

**Sozin:** Let me show you around your new home. 

[ Cut to : A room inside, decorated with carvings, gold, and artwork. Sozin stretches out his arms.]

**Sozin:** Huh? Not bad, right? 

**Roku:** [serious] All I see is duty. 

**Sozin:** You used to be a lot more fun, you know. 

**Roku:** Life used to be a lot more fun. 

**Sozin:** Oh come, Mr. Serious. Life as the Avatar can’t be all bad. You need to cheer up. There’s a huge party waiting for you. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about the girls noticing you anymore. 

**Roku:** How can I party when right now -- at this very moment -- all across the world people are suffering? [He snaps his fingers] A mother was just robbed of her last sack of rice. [He snaps his fingers again] A father takes a knife between his ribs in a gambling hall. [He snaps again] A governor steals from his people. [Snap] People plot and kill and die [snap, snap, snap] and it’s all my responsibility!

**Sozin:** Whoa, whoa -- calm down. You have a big responsibility, that’s true. But you can’t solve every problem. And no one is asking you to. [Sozin sighs] Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this until after the party, but… sit down. 

[Roku sits.]

**Sozin:** Before my grandfather died, he told me a family secret. About a prophecy. It tells about a legendary hero -- the Phoenix -- supposedly someone in my family line, who will harness the power of a comet to remake the world into a better place. I know it sounds crazy. My grandfather, he wasn’t well towards the end. But, he thinks that the Phoenix might be me. I have no idea. The comet that the prophecy talks about doesn’t even return for another fifty years. But I don’t care. I don’t have to wait around for a comet in order to do good in the world. Right now, the Fire Nation is more prosperous than it has ever been. In terms of technology, we are decades ahead of the other nations. 

I read your letters, Roku, about all the injustices that you saw. I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said about the water tribes. Even though they are separated by an entire globe, they’re still one people. I think that goes even farther. Firebenders, waterbenders, nonbenders -- we’re all people. We have a duty to one another. 

**Roku:** What are you saying, Sozin? 

**Sozin:** You’re my best friend. I will always help you. 

**Roku:** [smiling] The Avatar and the Phoenix? 

[Roku extends his right arm. Sozin grips it.]

**Sozin:** Let’s remake the world!

  
  
  


**Scene 7**

[Dragonbone Catacombs -- interior: Zuko and the novice move through the catacombs.]

**Novice:** You don’t believe in destiny, huh? 

**Zuko:** Not anymore. 

**Novice:** Did something change your mind? 

**Zuko:** [bites his lip, deciding whether to say the thing he’s thinking about saying. He says it.] My destiny was to kill the Avatar. 

**Novice:** Ahh, I see. Mission accomplished. 

**Zuko:** So what am I supposed to do now? 

**Novice:** Retire early? 

**Zuko:** I didn’t know Fire Sages had a sense of humor. 

**Novice:** They try to beat it out of us before we’re ordained. 

**Zuko:** Huh. Well, look at my great-grandfather. He thought he was the Phoenix, started a war to prove it, and then when he died he had to face the fact that his destiny wasn’t what he thought it was. 

**Novice:** [nodding] He wasn’t the only one of your great-grandfathers to die tragically. 

**Zuko:** What? What do you mean? 

[The novice comes to an abrupt halt in front of a spiral staircase. He smiles and points upwards.]

**Novice:** Here we are. Up these stairs is the courtyard we came in through. 

**Zuko:** Sozin died peacefully in his sleep. My father was there. Who are you talking about? 

[Off screen, a voice yells. It is a senior fire sage.]

**Sage:** Hey! What are you doing here? 

[As he gets closer, he recognizes Zuko. His eyes widen and he bows.]

**Sage:** My prince! My apologies, I didn’t recognize you. How can we help you? [He glares at the novice.] You should have the most senior sages to guide you. 

**Novice:** [cheerfully] That’s my cue. [He exits.]

**Zuko:** Wait!

**Sage:** Don’t worry about him, sir. I can help with anything you need. 

**Zuko:** I don’t think you can. [Turns to climb the steps.]

  
  
  


**Scene 7**

[Aang and Roku ride Roku’s dragon.] 

**Spirit Roku:** Looking back, there were many signs that Sozin’s promises of remaking the world were a veil for his own ambitions. The first time he concerned me was when he occupied the Yu Dao provinces. 

**Aang:** That’s the Fire Nation colonies. 

**Spirit Roku:** Yes, formerly belonging to the Earth Kingdom. 

[The dragon lands in Sozin’s study. He sits behind a desk. Roku barges in.]

**Roku:** Sozin! What is the meaning of this!

**Sozin:** Meaning of what? 

**Roku:** You occupied foreign territory. That’s an act of war!

**Sozin:** [totally at ease] Do you see the Earth Kingdom declaring war? 

**Roku:** They have the grounds to. 

**Sozin:** But they won’t. Ask the king during your next visit. They abandoned Yu Dao a long time ago -- and they left their people out to dry. I’m doing what I told you I would -- spreading the prosperity of the Fire Nation around the globe. 

**Roku:** This isn’t how I imagined we would go about it. 

**Sozin:** Then you need to expand your imagination. Come, sit. 

[Roku sits across from Sozin.]

**Sozin:** Did you know that in Yu Dao, eighty percent of adults can’t read? The soil is thin and rocky. Most children don’t live past twenty. One in every four men is forced into lawlessness to support his family. Now tell me, what’s the best school in the world?

**Roku:** [confused] The Royal Fire Academy for Girls. 

**Sozin:** Exactly. When we moved into Yu Dao, I brought soldiers to keep peace, officers to spread food, and I hired teachers from the Royal Academy -- doubled their salaries -- if they would move to Yu Dao. Now, in a land that had no resources, no food, and no education, they have the best teachers in the world and full bellies at night. 

**Roku:** No resources? Then tell me why you’ve already set up four new mines in the province. 

**Sozin:** [makes an ‘oh that old thing?’ hand gesture] Metal ore. Useless to the Earth Kingdom. They prefer stone. [He winks] The mines provide legitimate employment, fair wages, and the ore can be used by Fire Nation engineers to advance the entire region. 

[Roku sits back.]

**Roku:** But -- it’s still an occupation. There are supposed to be four nations for a reason. There needs to be a balance between the elements.

**Sozin:** [scoffs] Well, technically speaking, the Earth Kingdom still controls more territory than the other three nations combined. I haven’t changed that by making sure a few Kingdom citizens are fed. But, Roku, what is the point of balance if people are suffering? [He stands] Are you going to tell me that there needs to be a balance between the wealthy and the poor? [He laughs] If we have the chance to feed, house, and educate every person in the world, I don’t care if that’s an imbalance, I’m going to do it. 

**Roku:** [standing] Of course that’s not what balance means. And I apologize. I should have come to you with questions, instead of accusations. I know your intentions are good. 

**Sozin:** All forgiven, old friend. It’s your job to ask those questions -- [he smiles] it’s your job to keep us power-hungry world leaders in check. 

**Roku:** [laughs] Okay, okay. 

**Sozin:** Hey! Did you get my letter? I’m getting married. You’ll be there, right?

**Roku:** I wouldn’t miss it. 

**Aang:** [to Spirit Roku] You just let him take over Earth Kingdom territory? 

**Spirit Roku:** He was very convincing. As the Avatar, it is hard to argue against starving people being fed. 

**Aang:** But -- but --

**Spirit Roku:** Imagine this was happening to you. Sokka tells you that he has found a population of suffering people and has solved their problems overnight. The only thing he asked in repayment was that day or night, every man, woman, and child has to be carrying a boomerang. What would happen in that region?

**Aang:** [begrudgingly] There would be a lot of boomerangs. 

**Spirit Roku:** Exactly. It’s a strange request, something isn’t quite right, but you trust your friend to do the right thing. As you should. If we cannot trust our friends, we are truly lost. 

**Aang:** [upset to be reminded of his friends that he left behind] But you  _ couldn’t _ trust Sozin. 

**Spirit Roku:** He was one in a million, Aang. Even though I know how this story ends, I would never advise distrusting friends. 

  
  


**Scene 8**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior: Zuko stands in a room filled with ornate decorations -- swords, tapestries, jewels. Zuko stands in front of a large, elaborate wall hangings. It is a family tree. Each figure on the tree has characters spelling out their names, and a small portrait. He traces up the tree from his own name to his father, Ozai, up to Ozai’s father, Azulon, up to Azulon’s father, Sozin. Zuko frowns and traces back down to Azulon, and this time over to Azulon’s wife.]

**Zuko:** Dee Lyn. 

[He traces up to her parents.]

**Zuko:** Mako. 

[Zuko pulls out a heavy, bound book and flips through it.]

**Zuko:** Mako… born in the capital… blah, blah… died at age sixty five of influenza. [Zuko sits back, thinking.] I guess that’s tragic. 

[Zuko stands in front of the family tree again. He starts at his own name again, but this time traces up to his mother instead of his father. Ursa’s picture is formal, like the others, but there is a sense of warmth -- like she is just about to start smiling. However, unlike the other wives of the Fire Lords on this tree, Ursa has no heritage attached to her name. Above her portrait, the tree is blank.]

**Zuko:** Mom. How did your grandfather die? [Zuko squeezes his eyes closed and presses his forehead to the wall.] Where are you? Why aren’t you here? 

  
  
  


**Scene 9**

[Fire Nation Palace -- throne room: Sozin sits on the throne, with flames all around him. Roku enters. Spirit Aang and Spirit Roku stand off to the side.]

**Roku:** Sozin -- thank you for having me here on such short notice. 

**Sozin:** Usually Fire Nation citizens bow, and address their Fire Lord by his title. 

[Roku is clearly thrown by this. Sozin smiles, and comes down from the throne.]

**Sozin:** But I think I can make an exception. 

**Roku:** [sarcastically] Thank you,  _ your majesty _ . 

**Sozin:** Much better! Now what’s going on up north? 

**Roku:** [shakes his head, closing his eyes] It’s chaos. Water and Earth are at each other’s throats. The Northern Air Temple just closed their gates and issued a statement of neutrality. 

**Sozin:** Ha! Lao-Sze is only tough when he’s criticizing  _ my _ choices, huh? Now that he has to make a few of his own, he’s hiding like a scared little chicken-hare. 

**Roku:** Monk Lao-Sze is practicing what he preaches and avoiding conflict. 

**Sozin:** What’s the expression about omelettes and eggs? 

**Roku:** _Anyways_ , Monk Lao-Sze is the worst of our problems. Chief Tsarlis is threatening war. The Earth King wants to give it to him. All of my negotiating seems to accomplish nothing. It’s like they _want_ to fight. 

**Sozin:** Some northern splashers want to win some glory in their home turf against a nation that literally can’t fight back at sea. The dust-pushers know they have enough people to throw into a fight that it won’t matter who has the elemental advantage. 

[Roku looks like he wants to argue with this characterization of the other nations, but he refrains. At this point, they are acting like glory-hogs and rock-heads.]

**Sozin:** But no one wants to fight the Fire Navy. Not since we started putting our thousand-soldier ships in the water. We can shut this down with a show of force -- I’ll bet you we won't have to fire a single shot. 

**Roku:** I would take that bet. Are you sure, Sozin? This fight is all the way in the Leng Sea. It doesn’t threaten the Fire Nation. 

**Sozin:** Large scale conflicts have ripple effects. And my best friend is asking for help. 

**Roku:** Thank you, thank you. 

**Spirit Roku:** [to Aang] I remember I was so grateful to Sozin at the time. He was committing Fire Nation lives to a cause that had nothing to do with him. I learned later that the conflict in the Leng Sea could be traced back to Fire Nation aggression in the Yu Dao provinces. Sozin indirectly started the skirmishes he was vowing to stop. And he gained something from them as well. Though I didn’t know what at the time.

[The scene changes -- Roku and Sozin dissolve, while Aang and Spirit Roku stay in the throne room.]

[The door to the throne room bangs open. Roku -- older, considerably -- storms in, angry, pointing an accusatory finger.]

**Roku:** Sozin! Release those prisoners immediately.

[Sozin, also much older, sits on the throne. He does not smile or climb down.]

**Sozin:** There are few people in the world who can enter my throne room like that. 

**Roku:** There are few people in the world who can secretly hold prisoners for twenty years and not be blasted out of existence immediately. 

**Aang:** [to Spirit Roku] Twenty years?

**Spirit Roku:** Yes. Sozin’s forces helped stop the impending war between the Northern Tribe and the Earth Kingdom before it started. After that, the world was grateful to him. World leaders granted him the lands he asked for. Monk Lao-Sze kept speaking against him, but other monks were amenable to his demands. It wasn’t until twenty years had passed, and a brave prisoner from the Northern Tribe escaped that I knew how the war had really ended. 

**Aang:** How did it end? 

[Roku nods to the interaction between his living self and Sozin. Sozin has stepped down from his throne and the two face off.]

**Roku:** You kept the prisoners that you took two decades ago. 

**Sozin:** Some of them. 

**Roku:** They were all supposed to be released quickly after the war. 

**Sozin:** [scoffs] And put violent instigators back out into the world? We would have been right back where we started when you asked for my help -- except the world would think that the Fire Nation is easily pushed over. 

**Roku:** You defied the command on the Avatar -- of me!

**Sozin:** I helped you when you were unable to do the Avatar’s job. 

**Roku:** And now the rumors say that you’ve been torturing your prisoners. 

**Sozin:** You believe some Water Tribe gossip? By all means, if any of them wants to come here, stand in this room, and accuse me to my face, they are welcome. It has nothing to do with the Avatar. 

**Roku:** As the Avatar, I get to decide that. 

**Sozin:** What will you do, Roku? Are you here to threaten me? Fight me? 

**Roku:** I’m not going to fight you. Not now. You have until the end of the month to release those prisoners. 

**Sozin:** And then what? 

**Roku:** It’s been a long time since we sparred, old friend. I think you’ll find me harder to defeat these days. 

**Sozin:** [raising his arms into a fighting stance] Why not get it over with? I’m not releasing those prisoners. 

**Roku:** You have thirty days to change your mind. 

[Sozin shoots a blast of fire at Roku. Roku zooms up into the air on a mini tornado. In the air, he locks Sozin’s feet in place using earthbending. Roku gently descends back to the ground. Sozin is furious, but waits for Roku’s next strike.]

**Roku:** Thirty days. 

[Roku exits the throne room. As he leaves, the stone surrounding Sozin’s feet retracts into the floor. Sozin sends a wild burst of flame after Roku, but the doors are shut, and the flames burn out against them.]

**Aang:** What happened in thirty days? 

**Spirit Roku:** [sighs] Sozin released the prisoners. All of them. And then we didn’t speak for another twelve years. 

**Aang:** [nervously] Twelve years? Aren’t we getting kind of close to--

**Spirit Roku:** My death? Yes. In fact [he raises his arms and the scene shifts] we don’t want to be late.

[The scene reforms. Aang and Roku are once again on the docks of Roku’s Island. It is still an island paradise. Roku, now looking identical to his spirit form, stands holding an elderly woman’s hand. They watch a Fire Nation ship approach. Roku kisses her hand.]

**Aang:** Your home? 

**Spirit Roku:** Yes. No one wants to die, but everyone generally agrees it’s best to do at home, at a ripe old age, surrounded by family. 

  
  
  


**Scene 10**

[Fire Nation Prison -- interior: Zuko kneels before the bars of Iroh’s cells. Iroh sits in the shadows, away from Zuko.]

**Zuko:** I know you won’t say anything. But you’re the only one I can ask. Every record has been scrubbed. Everyone’s lips are sealed. Any trace of her history, of her family is gone. It’s like my mother didn’t disappear, it’s like she never existed!

[Zuko curls his knees to his chest. Tears brim in his eyes.]

**Zuko:** And I’m just as bad. We left the Fire Nation, and I spent all of my time looking for the Avatar. I didn’t even consider looking for her. I let her go just as much as anyone else. 

**Iroh:** No. 

[Iroh’s voice is strong and insistent. It startled Zuko, who looks up and sees that Iroh is at the bars.]

**Iroh:** You were a boy and one of the most powerful men in the world wanted you and everyone else to forget her. 

[Zuko brushes the tears away from his face. He is afraid that speaking will bring them back.]

**Iroh:** But even before your mother vanished, her family line wasn’t spoken of. She wasn’t of noble birth, her bloodline was something higher: a connection to the spiritual world. It’s why your father courted her.

**Zuko:** [sitting up] Like the prophecy.  _ Imperial and spiritual mix _ . 

**Iroh:** [looking sharply] You’ve heard the prophecy? [He looks away, and suddenly hurls the bowl he was holding at the wall. It breaks. He turns back to Zuko.] Forget what you heard, Zuko. That prophecy has twisted the minds of your ancestors for thousands of years. It has never brought anyone any peace. 

**Zuko:** I don’t care about the prophecy. I care about what the novice said -- I don’t even know my own family. 

**Iroh:** That was your father’s decree. Are you prepared to defy him to find out? 

[Zuko’s sucks in an audible breath. Is he? Everything he’s ever done has, directly or indirectly, been to please his father. But since coming back to the capital, it feels like no matter what he does, it’s never enough. The lie about the Avatar sits heavily on Zuko’s heart. He knows Azula’s word is the only thing keeping him at home. Is he willing to risk it?]

[The image of the mother he lost comes to mind. She would have done anything for him. What will he do for her?]

**Zuko:** Tell me. 

  
  
  


**Scene 11**

[Roku’s Island -- night time, exterior courtyard: Roku and Sozin walk, seriously, slowly, hands behind their backs. The spirit forms of Aang and Roku are nowhere to be seen.]

**Sozin:** Power is like lightning. Only a few ever have the chance to wield it, and an even smaller amount to wield it well. 

**Roku:** Who said that? 

**Sozin:** I did. 

**Roku:** [smiling] When did we get old enough to be wise? 

**Sozin:** [snorts] Speak for yourself. 

[Roku stops. The scene is lit by moonlight and lanterns. Sozin pauses as well.]

**Roku:** I regret the last twelve years.

**Sozin:** We’re both stubborn. We knew that. 

**Roku:** It’s not how I pictured it. I always thought my children would know you better than their own uncles. 

**Sozin:** [nods] It’s not too late. 

[Roku looks up at the moon sadly.]

**Roku:** What if it is? 

[At that moment, the ground shakes violently, an explosion tears through the night, and the scene becomes lit by a dull fiery red. The two men turn in horror to see that the volcano is erupting. Roku rushes towards the building in front of him. But Sozin grabs his arm, holding him there. Sozin’s eyes are wide and furious.]

**Roku:** What are you doing?! We have to go. 

**Sozin:** You did this. 

**Roku:** What are you talking about? 

**Sozin:** [red in the light of the volcano] Just to get rid of me. 

[Roku shakes Sozin’s arm off, shakes his head, and rushes into the house. Lava is spraying from the top of the hill and running quickly down the mountainside. Sozin remains in the courtyard, watching the destruction. He can’t shake the feeling that this is Roku’s threat -- the wrath of the Avatar. As he stands, people stream out of the mansion, heading down the hill, towards the docks. A lone figure heads up hill -- bending rock, air, and fire simultaneously.]

[Fire Nation guards approach Sozin.]

**Guard:** Sir -- we have to get you to the boat!

[Sozin does not respond. He watches Roku, the Avatar, his best friend, fight the destruction of the volcano with incredible feats of bending. He diverts the lava flow with an earthen trench. He cools the magma with a blast of air.]

**Guard:** Your highness!

**Sozin:** [like snapping out of a trance] You go! [He puts his fingers to his lips and whistles. Out of the night sky, a dragon flies to him. Sozin mounts up and heads up the volcano, to fight at Roku’s side.]

[Sozin lands next to Roku. The heat must be suffocating. Roku spares a glance at him, sees Sozin helping him fight the volcano.]

**Roku:** Cover your mouth! The gases are poisonous!

[Ash is falling from the sky, creating a hellish version of snowfall. The two work together to divert the flow of lava away from the settlements. For a time it works. They even manage to turn the spill of lava to the other side of the hill. But then an explosion tears a new hole in the mountain. Lava gushes incredibly fast. It fills the trench Roku made and heads directly for the Avatar’s mansion. Poisonous gases fill the air.]

[Roku creates a spinning ball of air that encompasses him and Sozin.]

**Roku:** You have to go. 

**Sozin:** Not without you. 

**Roku:** You’re the Fire Lord. 

**Sozin:** You’re the Avatar!

**Roku:** [smiling] So I’ll be back. This volcano needs to be stopped. It could trigger a chain reaction, the ash cloud could threaten the whole country. 

**Sozin:** No!

**Roku:** [grips his arm] I need to do this. It’s why I’m here. [He pulls Sozin into a hug.] And you -- remember the Phoenix. Find my next life -- the Avatar and the Phoenix, finally together. 

[Roku stands, whistles for Sozin’s dragon, and pushes him away.]

**Sozin:** [from dragonback, tears in his eyes] Roku, I’m -- I’m so--

**Roku:** I know -- now go!

[The dragon takes off, flying Fire Lord Sozin away.]

[Roku closes his eyes, when they reopen, they are shining bright white -- the Avatar State. He gathers the elements around him in spinning circles and rises into the air. He goes higher than the volcano.]

[From the perspective of the boats at sea, they can see a shimmering white ball -- it quickly descends into the mouth of the volcano. There is another explosion, this time white. Lava still creeps down the hill, but the top of the mountain has been sealed. And Avatar Roku is gone.]

  
  


**Scene 11**

[Roku’s Island -- exterior, night: the spirit forms of Aang and Roku stand on the beach, watching lava cover the once tropical paradise.]

**Aang:** You were killed in the Avatar State!

**Roku:** No. I turned it off at the last second. You must learn that type of control, Aang. 

**Aang:** I will. So what happened? I thought… I thought he was going to kill you. 

**Roku:** I’m sure the idea crossed his mind. But in the end, Sozin was my friend. Over the next years... [he shakes his head] he became less stable. His feuds with the monks increased. He cursed every Avatar that had ever lived for not being strong enough to stop a volcano. 

**Aang:** He broke the promise he made to you! He tried to kill your next life!

**Roku:** Yes. But we’ll never know why he decided to do that. Maybe, in some twisted way, it was how he thought he was keeping his promise. 

**Aang:** That doesn’t make any sense. 

**Roku:** To us, it never will. That’s what I’m trying to show you, Aang. The role of the Avatar -- to do good -- is deceptively simple. But everyone in the world thinks what they are doing is the right thing. It comes down to you. I should have seen the evil in my friend, and stopped him before he could bring his pain down on this world. I should have let him sacrifice himself along with me, instead of leaving a child to clean up my mistakes. [He puts a hand on Aang’s shoulder.] But looking back, I can never find that moment when it would have been right. 

  
  


**Scene 12**

[Fire Nation prison -- interior, Iroh’s cell: Zuko holds his hands in his head.]

**Zuko:** Avatar Roku… is my great-grandfather? My mother’s grandfather?

**Iroh:** Roku and Sozin, best friends, meet again in you, Zuko. And Azula. Light and dark, spiritual and royal, they are always swirling around in your heritage. 

**Zuko:** No. It can’t be. 

**Iroh:** It is. Your father found your mother, knowing that Sozin’s Comet would return in his lifetime. He hoped a connection with her would make him into the Phoenix. But when he found a different use for her, he discarded her and erased her heritage from your family story. 

**Zuko:** No… no… 

**Iroh:** You understand why he banished you now. My brother gave up his only son because he feared that  _ you _ had a stronger claim on a prophecy that he wanted for himself. 

**Zuko:** It can’t be. 

**Iroh:** It is. 

**Zuko:** What about Azula? She’s the same spiritual, imperial mix. And she’s a prodigy! A lightning-bender!

**Iroh:** [squeezing his eyes shut] Azula… doesn’t need to be sent away to be controlled. Do you see what I’m saying about the prophecy now? It’s words have twisted our family, creating monsters out of men. My own son, Lu Ten, he dreamed of phoenix wings as well, but… [tears stream silently from Iroh’s eyes.] Forget the prophecy, Zuko. You don’t need some words written a thousand years ago to tell you what to do. 

**Zuko:** [standing] How can you say that! I’ve never felt more lost. 

**Iroh:** [resting back against the wall and pulling his blankets around him] I hope you find your way, nephew. As I have always hoped for you. [He closes his eyes.]

  
  
  


**Scene 13**

[The swamp -- exterior: Aang, Thok, Rinchen, and Huu sit on the roots of the banyan tree. From the lighting, it is clear that not much time has passed since they began their meditation. Aang’s eyes pop open as he gasps. The others open their eyes as well and relax their bodies.]

**Rinchen:** Did it work, Aang? Did you connect with your past lives? 

**Aang:** I saw Roku. He showed me how the war started. 

**Rinchen:** Sozin’s attack on our people. 

**Aang:** No -- it started way before that. Little things kept building and building. But I know one thing for sure -- it wasn’t one man who started this war. Killing one man won’t end it either. 

[Credits roll.]


	6. S3E6: The Day of Black Sun

**Season 3: Episode 6 -- “Day of Black Sun: Part 1”**

  
  


**Scene 1**

[Wilderness -- sunrise: Aang and Rinchen stretch in a clearing. Aang is lost in thought, staring at the sun over the tree-line. Rinchen steps into view.]

**Rinchen:** Whatcha thinking about?

**Aang:** Today is the day of the eclipse. 

[Rinchen plops down next to Aang and looks at the sun with him.]

**Rinchen:** Oh. That must be… Actually, I can’t guess how that feels. You tell me. 

**Aang:** I’m thinking about my friends. How much they were counting on today.

**Rinchen:** Did you change your mind?

**Aang:** No. I stand by my decision. At least no one is getting hurt today. 

  
  
  


**Scene 2**

[Fire Nation Capital -- morning: from above, we see a group of people walking together around the city. The camera pulls in on a tour group. Toph, in a Fire Nation outfit, stands at the back. The group passes the palace, with the tour guide speaking animatedly.]

**Tour guide:** And here we have the Azran Promenade. This empty space is actually a defensive structure that prevents anyone from sneaking up on the palace. This, along with the metal base underneath the building, and the 360 watch tower are all part of the ninety-four whole palace defenses in place. Now let’s move along to the shopping district!

**Toph:** Are we going to see the palace?

**Tour guide:** Usually I would be able to show you the gardens and the hall of portraits, but today the palace has been closed for routine safety drills. Now wait a minute… Have I seen you before?

**Toph:** [smiling beautifically] I was here last week! My parents just moved here from the colonies -- and I love the way you describe things. I feel like I can see them. 

[The tour guide beams with pride.]

[ Cut to : Toph enters a small room where Sokka sits at a desk with pen and parchment.]

**Toph:** We were right. No one is going in or out of the palace today. 

**Sokka:** [nods, staring at his notes] We thought that might happen. Plan B it is. 

[Katara enters, holding a few bags.]

**Sokka:** Did you find everything? 

**Katara:** Yup. Just like we thought -- the city guard towers wear the same uniforms, and are way easier to break into. I even got a guard helmet. And Toph -- I bought some metal armbands for you, so you’re never out of ammunition. 

**Toph:** Awesome!

**Sokka:** All right, everything’s in order. Let’s head out. 

[Sokka rolls up his plans, and all three of them hoist the bags over their shoulders.]

  
  
  


**Scene 3**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior: Zuko writes a letter at his desk. He reads it over, then rolls it up. He grabs his swords and a traveling bag, and heads out.  Cut to : empty hallway, Zuko pushes open a door to another bedroom. It’s empty. On the bedside table is a portrait of Zuko and Mai. Zuko picks it up and looks at it sadly, before place his note next to it and leaving.]

  
  
  


**Scene 4**

[Fire Nation prison -- interior: A female guard (Ming) brings Iroh a tray of food with a steaming teapot on it. She sets it down carefully in front of the bars of his prison.]

**Ming:** I found the jing sing tea you like. I must have walked by that little shop a hundred times -- but you were right, best tea in the capital. 

**Iroh:** Greatness can often be found in unexpected places. [Pours tea for himself and Ming.] Thank you. 

**Ming:** Are we still on for Pai Sho tonight? The captain’s been called to the palace today -- so no one to hide the board from!

**Iroh:** Ming, your kindness has gotten me through my imprisonment. But I think you should take the rest of the day off. 

**Ming:** What? 

**Iroh:** [getting up and looking her in the eye] Yes, you don’t look well. I think you should go home and rest. 

**Ming:** But I feel fine. 

**Iroh:** One can never be too careful. [winks]

  
  
  


**Scene 5**

[Fire Nation palace -- interior, Azula’s room: Azula stands with her arms outstretched as servants place elaborate armor on her. Ty Lee enters and stands in the doorway. Azula sees her in the mirror and her eyes widen.]

**Azula:** You are dismissed!

**Ty Lee:** Are you talking to me or them? 

[Azula waves the servants away. They exit the room.]

**Azula:** I would hope you could figure that out. What are you doing here?

**Ty Lee:** It’s a big day for you -- I just wanted to say good luck. 

**Azula:** I don’t need luck. 

[For this conversation, Azula keeps Ty Lee at an angle, so that they aren’t directly facing one another. When Ty Lee perches on a desk, Azula turns her body. Ty Lee notices this and sighs.]

**Ty Lee:** Are you nervous to lose your bending? 

**Azula:** You think bending is all I’m good for? [Azula turns fully away.]

**Ty Lee:** No. I’ve never thought that. Sometimes I think it’s all  _ you  _ think you’re good for. 

[Azula breaks and glances at Ty Lee.]

**Ty Lee:** When we were at school, all the teachers talked about what a gifted bender you were. A blue-flame. A lightning-bender, only born once in a hundred generations!

**Azula:** [looking away] What’s your point? 

**Ty Lee:** Everyone was drawn to you. The princess, the prodigy -- you got all the attention, but you never seemed to notice. You were always so focused on studying and practicing and being the best. Sometimes I feel like nothing’s changed. Like we’re still at school. 

**Azula:** [turning away, speaking into the mirror] Spit out whatever you point is. I have to get ready. 

**Ty Lee:** My point is -- I miss you. 

**Azula:** Don’t be ridiculous, we see each other every day. 

**Ty Lee:** I see the princess every day. I don’t see  _ you _ anymore. 

[Azula grips her dresser, unable to face her own reflection anymore.]

**Azula:** I  _ am _ the princess. 

**Ty Lee:** It’s like ever since that night at the beach--

**Azula:** _Don’t._

[Ty Lee bites her lip.]

**Azula:** I don’t have time for this today. 

**Ty Lee:** Okay. What will your excuse be tomorrow? 

[Azula’s eyes narrow and her lip curls. What right does Ty Lee have to speak to her like that?]

**Azula:** I guess we’ll see tomorrow. 

**Ty Lee:** Good luck today. You look really… 

[Azula whirls around.]

**Azula:** Frightening?

**Ty Lee:** Beautiful. 

[Ty Lee leaves, Azula is alone.]

  
  
  


**Scene 6**

[Outside of the caldera, on the slopes of the volcano: Sokka, Katara, and Toph hike. Sokka holds a compass and leads the group.]

**Sokka:** We want to be perfectly aligned with the Fire Lord’s palace, but significantly under it, so they don’t hear or see us coming.

**Toph:** Not too deep or we’ll hit the magma core. 

**Sokka:** [frustrated] We’d have to dig for miles to hit the core!

**Toph:** Okay -- jeez, I guess we’re not doing jokes today. 

**Sokka:** It’s a serious day. 

**Katara:** We know, Sokka, we are serious. 

**Sokka:** Okay, okay -- I just want to be prepared. [He looks at his compass.] Here. 

[Sokka drops his bags and begins pulling things out -- instruments, papers, a boomerang. He turns to Katara and Toph, who stand by his side.]

**Sokka:** Well? What are you just standing there for? I’m going to go scout the area and make sure we’re clear. You guys start digging.

[Sokka leaves. Katara and Toph look at each other.]

**Toph:** You heard the man -- grab a shovel! 

[Katara’s eyebrows raise. Toph laughs.]

**Toph:** I’m just kidding. [She opens a cavern in the volcano.] All done. 

**Katara:** I’m worried about Sokka. He seems really stressed and upset. 

**Toph:** I mean, we’re on an assassination mission. It is a little stressful and upsetting.

**Katara:** Exactly. It’s dangerous, I don’t want him to be distracted. 

**Toph:** Let me guess, you want to talk to him about it. 

**Katara:** Let me guess, you’re going to make a joke about how motherly and annoying I am. 

**Toph:** I was  _ actually _ going to say, if you think it’s a good idea, go ahead. You’re usually right. 

[Katara is stunned. Toph points at her.]

**Toph:** I will deny that I ever said that. 

[Sokka comes back.]

**Sokka:** We should be clear here. [He looks at the cave Toph opened.] What is this!? It has to be perfectly level or we’re going to go down and miss the palace completely. 

**Toph:** [blinks] Katara wants to talk to you!

**Sokka:** What? 

**Katara:** I just … I wanted to make sure that you’re okay. 

**Sokka:** Do I not seem okay?

[He does not.]

**Katara:** It’s a big day and I want to make sure that you are --

**Sokka:** Ready? Prepared! What do you think I’ve been doing?? This is all I’ve thought about! I  _ dream _ about it! I’ve gone over it so many times in my head, I feel like I was born in the Fire Lord’s palace. It’s the Day of Black Sun, the day we’ve been waiting for. I’m  _ fine. _

[Katara takes her brother’s hand.]

**Katara:** You miss him, don’t you? 

[Sokka looks away.]

**Sokka:** We built this mission for the three of us. We don’t need him. 

**Katara:** But you still miss him. It feels wrong to do this without him. 

**Sokka:** [rounding to face her] Of course it feels wrong! This is the Avatar’s job. We’re about to be fugitives, Katara! War criminals! 

**Toph:** To be fair -- we are usually fugitives from  _ someone _ . 

**Sokka:** And I’m okay with all of that. I’m okay with dying. Because I know we’re doing the right thing. But doing the right thing is supposed to be the Avatar’s job. 

**Toph:** And you miss your best friend.

**Sokka:** I--

**Toph:** I know how I’d feel if Katara wasn’t here. 

[Katara is stunned. Again.]

**Toph:** I’ve realized something recently -- it’s okay to miss people. It’s okay to be mad at them, and wish they were here at the same time. 

[Sokka’s shoulders slump. Katara pats Toph’s shoulder appreciatively. She pulls all three of them into a huddle.]

**Katara:** I know this isn’t how we imagined today would go. But we can do this. We don’t need an Avatar in order to do the right thing. We have each other, we have a plan. After today, the Fire Lord won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore. 

  
  


**Scene 7**

[Fire Nation palace -- exterior, turtleduck pond: Zuko waits by the pond, throwing bits of bread to the ducklings. Azula approaches. She notices the swords strapped to his back.]

**Azula:** Expecting a fight? 

**Zuko:** For eight minutes today all firebending is going to be useless. I’m not expecting a fight, but I’m going to be prepared for one. 

[Azula’s brow furrows. She’s always thought Zuko’s sword training was stupid -- why waste time with a weapon, when the most powerful weapon is always at your fingertips? Now, though, he has a point.]

**Azula:** Why did you ask me to come here? 

**Zuko:** It reminds me of our mother. 

[Azula makes a gesture like ‘so what?’]

**Zuko:** It reminds me of being kids, back when everything was less complicated. Did Father tell you about the Prophecy of the Phoenix? 

[Pause.]

**Azula:** Of course. I’m surprised he told  _ you _ . 

**Zuko:** He didn’t. I had to go creeping around the catacombs -- I’m sure he read the poem to you himself. 

**Azula:** Perhaps. 

**Zuko:** Doesn’t it make you angry, Azula? He manipulated our mother in order to get what he wanted. To create his destiny. 

[Azula sees absolutely no problem with this.]

**Azula:** The destiny of the Fire Lord is more important than any one woman. 

**Zuko:** More important than  _ our mother _ , you mean. 

**Azula:** What do you want, Zuko?

**Zuko:** You told me you lied to Father in order to get me home. You asked me to swear that I would always be loyal to you, as your brother. So I want to ask you: are you sure about today? 

**Azula:** What do you mean? 

**Zuko:** I mean -- [he gets to his feet] he’s using you! You’re not going to have your bending. You’re fourteen years old. Our father is using you today so that he can live out his prophecy fantasies at the end of the summer! 

**Azula:** I’d be touched by your concern, if I didn’t see through your ridiculously transparent scheme. 

**Zuko:** What are you talking about? 

**Azula:** You’re jealous of me! You always have been. And I see why. But today -- my role is the one the crown prince should be occupying. And you’re worried you’ve fallen too low. 

**Zuko:** What? No, I don’t care--

**Azula:** About the crown? About being Fire Lord? Your birthright? 

**Zuko:** No! I care about you!

[Azula’s next snappy retort is undercut by Zuko’s sincerity.]

**Zuko:** I left you here. You were only eleven. I was so consumed with my own anger and shame, I never even thought about you. How all of it affected you. I’m sorry, Azula. 

**Azula:** I was fine. 

**Zuko:** Even so, I’m sorry. I want to be a good brother to you. So [he takes in a big breath] I’m leaving. Today. And I want you to come with me. 

[Azula’s eyes widen.]

**Azula:** What do you mean you’re leaving!? You can’t leave! You’re the prince of the Fire Nation. Where would you go? I’ll tell, Father. I’ll tell him it wasn’t you who killed the Avatar. 

**Zuko:** [saddened but not surprised by Azula’s reaction] I’m going to tell him myself. 

[Azula’s shoulders sag. Her biggest piece of leverage, gone in an instant.]

**Azula:** What about Mai? 

**Zuko:** I wrote her a note. 

**Azula:** She’s going to kill you. 

[Zuko nods. Azula is correct.]

**Azula:** And -- I think Ty Lee has grown very attached to you as well. 

[Zuko raises an eyebrow. Azula stomps in frustration and turns to the pool.]

**Azula:** What will you do? 

**Zuko:** I don’t know yet. I want to find Mother.

**Azula:** [with a heavy voice] You just said you were sorry for leaving me -- and now you’re going to do it again? 

**Zuko:** I won’t be leaving you if you come with me. Please, Azula, let’s leave together. Forget the prophecy. Forget all the ways Father manipulates--

**Azula:** _If you’re going, then go!_

**Zuko:** Azula… 

**Azula:** I call the guards on you in  _ five… four… _

**Zuko:** Don’t do this. 

**Azula:** _Three_ … 

[Zuko grabs a bag from the ground.]

**Zuko:** You can always come find me. 

**Azula:** _Two…_

[Zuko departs. Azula turns back to the pond, her fists clenched, trembling with a rage she can’t fully explain.]

**Azula:** Servant!

[A woman rushes forward and bows.]

**Azula:** Go find a Fire Sage and tell them to bring me the Prophecy of the Phoenix. And if one singular person finds out what you’re doing -- you’ll be hanging from the palace walls. 

[The servant reacts in terror and practically runs to complete her task. Azula looks back into the pond. She grimaces at her reflection and tosses a rock into the water to mar it. The rock hits the reflected version of her left eye, before rippling outward -- for a moment, making her reflection match Zuko’s.]

  
  
  


**Scene 8**

[Dark room with a metal floor -- suddenly the floor rips open and Toph pokes a hand through.]

**Toph:** All clear -- this whole level is abandoned. Just like the tour guide said. 

[Sokka and Katara hop out of the hole and Toph remakes the floor without a scratch.]

**Sokka:** [checking a pocket watch] We made good time. We have an hour before the eclipse starts. 

**Katara:** Let’s get changed anyways. 

[Sokka, Katara, and Toph don their disguises. Katara is dressed as a maid. In the billowing sleeves of her uniform, she hides two water skins. Toph dresses as a page -- she pulls her remaining short hair under a cap, shifts her bangs in front of her missing eye, and secures the armbands Katara got for her to her arms -- three each. Sokka pulls on the uniform of a palace guard. He grimaces at the helmet, tucking it under his arm.] 

**Sokka:** All right -- final run down. 

[They gather in a circle on the floor. Sokka hands each of them a small object with a dial on it.]

**Sokka:** These timers will help us keep track of when the eclipse is going to happen, so that even when we’re split up, we can coordinate. When the timer goes off, Katara, you’ll flood the eastern wing of the palace to draw attention away from the throne room. Toph, you’ll be in position in the servants corridors behind the throne room. You’ll cement everyone’s feet to the floor and jam the lock on the door. I’ll already be inside, dressed as a guard. I’ll finish the Fire Lord and then we all meet back here, and get out. 

[Toph and Katara nod. Then all three come in for a hug.]

[Toph raises her hands and a trapdoor in the floor forms.]

**Toph:** In case I don’t make it back in time. 

[Katara squeezes Toph in for another hug. The three of them clasp hands, look into each other's eyes, and then they’re off to their respective responsibilities.]

  
  
  


**Scene 9**

[Wilderness -- exterior, small clearing: Aang, Tashi, and Rinchen play a modified version of airball. The pass the ball a few times, then Aang kicks it hard into Tashi, pushing her backwards and the ball splits apart.]

**Tashi:** That doesn’t count!

**Rinchen:** The ball’s gone anyways. 

**Aang:** What was the score before the ball disintegrated?

**Rinchen:** Hmm, Tashi 15, Rinchen 12, Aang… 3. 

**Aang:** You played a fair and honorable game. If you consider it fair and honorable to destroy a player who hasn’t practiced in a century. 

**Tashi:** Don’t worry, Aang, we’ll get you back up to speed. 

[Dorje enters the clearing.]

**Dorje:** Tashi! Come along, we still have seventy verses of Guru Shoken left. 

[Tashi’s face falls. Quickly she straightens up with a sweet look in her eyes.]

**Tashi:** Aang and Rinchen should come too -- I’m sure they’d love Shoken!

[Rinchen and Aang exchange a panicked glance.]

**Dorje:** Well boys? 

**Aang:** I’ve already done Shoken. And let me tell you -- he wasn’t  _ shoken _ around. 

[The air nomads stare at him with blank, unamused expressions.]

**Rinchen:** _If you meet the spirit of enlightenment, slay him!_

**Aang:** Exactly what I was gonna say. 

**Dorje:** Tashi, let’s go. 

[Dorje and Tashi leave, Tashi sticking her tongue out at the boys.]

**Aang:** Well, what should we do now? 

[Rinchen falls gracefully to the ground.]

**Rinchen:** I’ve never said this before in my life -- but we should probably work too. 

[Aang sighs dramatically and falls to the ground.]

**Rinchen:** [smiling] It’s the whole reason you’re here with us. 

**Aang:** [scratching his head] Not the only reason. 

[The two glance at each other and blush.]

**Rinchen:** Come on, let’s see if we can get to Kyoshi today. Imagine what she could show you!

[They both adopt lotus positions with hands clasped over their hearts and close their eyes.]

[ Cut to : the cosmic plane. Aang opens his eyes. He is facing the expanding rows of Avatars, all seated. Roku sits in front, smiling. Behind him, Kyoshi and Kuruk have some definition though not as much. Aang takes a deep breath.]

**Aang:** Avatar Kyoshi --

[Aang is interrupted. An indistinct, far off voice calls his name. He looks around. The voice calls his name again, more insistent, closer.]

[Aang gets up and scans the crowd of Avatars. Behind Kyoshi and Kuruk, the Avatars get more and more blurry.]

[The voice calls Aang’s name again. He swivels around. The giant version of himself looks on with glowing eyes. They are brighter than the last time he was here, but not quite as bright as he knows it can be. The voice is not coming from there. He looks down, over the side of the bridge of light. The planet is far, far below. Once more the voice calls his name. He can almost recognize the speaker now -- she is female, someone he has met. He looks out over the cosmos and sees a bright star. No, it isn’t a star. It’s the moon, and it’s moving closer. He steps off the light-bridge towards the moon, unsure if the empty space will hold him. It does, in a way, and he floats towards the moon. Slowly, the glowing human form of Yue appears within the sphere. Aang bows.]

**Aang:** Princess Yue. 

[Yue solidifies into a form very similar to her human figure. There is a bright silver halo around her head, and her hair and robes move in an unfelt breeze, but otherwise she looks like the girl Aang met at the end of Season 1.]

**Yue:** Hello, Aang. 

**Aang:** What can I do for you?

**Yue:** [smiles and taps her lips] Hmm, that’s an interesting question. You summoned me here. 

**Aang:** I did? But I heard you calling my name. 

**Yue:** Fascinating. I heard  _ you _ calling  _ my _ name. 

**Aang:** I have been thinking about you -- about the eclipse. 

**Yue:** Yes, even as we speak, in the mortal world I’m traveling closer and closer to the sun. 

**Aang:** Can I ask you a question? 

**Yue:** Of course.

**Aang:** From the spiritual side, what is the point of the eclipse? It upsets the balance of nature, completely eliminating one of the four elements. When Zhao attacked the moon spirit in the North Pole it was a terrible crime. 

**Yue:** That’s a good question. As the Avatar, I suppose you are greatly concerned with balance. But, as a force of nature, I can say that the natural world is rarely in balance. The sun sets every night. A winged-fox kills a squirrel-hare. People fall in love, while others fall out. It is only by looking at the whole picture, over time, that one sees “balance.” 

**Aang:** Like the airbenders -- they’ve been gone from the world, but never truly extinct. 

**Yue:** Exactly. 

**Aang:** Even so, the Fire Nation shouldn’t have as much power as they do. 

**Yue:** All will be evened out in time. 

**Aang:** Can you see the future? 

**Yue:** [shrugs] The future is made from the present, from hundreds of thousands of decisions and actions. I have seen many futures. [She laughs and looks out at the stars.] I remember being human, with the days marching by, one after another. It all seemed so straightforward. From here [she gestures at their height over the world] it’s very different. 

**Aang:** How so? 

**Yue:** Time isn’t a line, stretching from the past to the future. It’s more circular, like the phases of the moon. Events lead into one another and cycle back on themselves. Not so different from the Avatar Cycle. 

**Aang:** But I disrupted that cycle too. The Avatar was gone for a hundred years. That’s why the Fire Nation is so powerful. 

**Yue:** And now you’re back. Cycles, on cycles, on cycles. Now tell me, Aang, why did you call me here? 

**Aang:** I don’t know, I didn’t mean to. 

**Yue:** But now that I’m here, I think there’s something you want to ask. 

**Aang:** [squeezes eyes closed, then turns to face Yue] Are they okay? 

[Yue raises her arms. Aang looks out into the cosmos. Giant, translucent visions of Sokka, Katara, and Toph walk across the sky. They’re dressed in their palace disguises. As Aang watches, Toph is grabbed roughly by someone unseen. Azula appears in front of Sokka -- her eyes narrow, as his widen with fear. Zuko, swords drawn, appears in Katara’s path. She adopts a fighting stance and bends water out of her sleeves.]

**Aang:** What is that! Is that happening now?

**Yue:** Cycles, Aang. Some of it has already happened, other parts will happen soon, other parts may never happen at all. 

[Aang sinks to his knees.]

**Aang:** No, no, no! This is exactly what happened last time! Everytime I make progress on my spiritual journey, I get pulled back to Earth. [He looks at Yue with tears in his eyes.] I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. 

**Yue:** [pulls Aang back to his feet] That is the central dilemma of the Avatar. You are the bridge between the two worlds. Some Avatars dedicate themselves to the spirits, others to the plights of man. But the best have found a way to walk between the worlds, an equal part of both. 

**Aang:** Guru Pathik told me to let go of my worldly attachments. 

**Yue:** To clear your chakras -- not forever. 

[Aang’s eyes widen.]

**Yue:** Aang -- why do you fight? What propels you? What makes you want to right the imbalances of the world?

[The Avatar’s theme music begins playing -- across the night sky, visions arc through the stars:]

[Sokka and Katara finding him in the iceberg.]

[Toph, waiting and listening, defeating earthbenders thrice her size.]

[Appa flies through the clouds.]

[Roku soars on his dragon.]

[Bumi rides a cart through Omashu’s mail slides.]

[The swampbenders race alongside the inventors of the Northern Air Temple, with the Freedom Fighters swinging above. The revered masters of the Northern Water Tribe raise their icy palace. The Gan Jin and Zhang tribes pass through the desert, alongside the Earth King and Bosco. Far in the background, the Blue Spirit runs through the stars.]

[Bigger and brighter: Sokka pulls a water tribe ship through waves breaking on tight rock formations.]

[Toph wrenches free of a metal prison.]

[Gyatso smiles over his cakes.]

[Tashi and Rinchen bounce through the wilderness.]

[Lastly, the clearest vision is Katara, standing on the path of light, a hand extended towards Aang.]

[Aang glances at Yue, who smiles. She can see the visions too.]

**Aang:** Thank you, Princess Yue, for your guidance. 

[Yue smiles broadly and reaches into her halo. She breaks off what appears to be a piece of the moon and offers it to Aang.]

**Yue:** Take this. 

**Aang:** Thank you -- uhh, what am I supposed to do with it?

[Yue narrows her eyes thoughtfully. From her view on high, she can see many futures in which this spiritual gift is used in many ways. She smiles again.]

**Yue:** You’ll figure it out. 

[Aang bows once more, and runs back to the bridge of light. The vision of Katara waits for him. He smiles, then begins running back the way he came. Katara follows. Sokka and Toph join him. Aang reaches the lines of previous Avatars. The music swells]

[Unlike before, the Avatars now stand, clearly defined, facing Aang, every single one of them with eyes glowing white. Aang puts his fists to his chest and bows to them. When he rises, his eyes glow too.]

[Behind him, the giant cosmic version of himself glows brightly.]

  
  
  


**Scene 10**

[Fire Nation Palace -- exterior: The same sun Aang was looking at looms over the palace. Inside, Katara makes her way to the Eastern Wing. She passes a few nobles and guards, all of whom she bows to until they have passed. No one notices her.]

[As she straightens up after two noble ladies pass her, she sees Zuko at the end of the long corridor. She freezes, then bends nearly in half. Zuko steps closer and closer. He pauses in front of Katara. She is sweating in panic.]

**Zuko:** [kindly] I told the staff that you don’t have to bow when it’s just me. 

[Katara squeezes her eyes shut and doesn’t move.]

**Zuko:** It’s okay. My father and sister will surely require it. 

[He continues down the hallway. We get a close up of Katara’s face. After the initial swell of relief passes, fury takes over. She rises, alone in an empty hallway. She glares at the place where Zuko went. She pauses, looking down the opposite way biting her lip. It is clear her mission takes her that way, away from wherever Zuko was going. She has to stay on target, it’s essential for the mission, for Toph and Sokka’s safety. But some sort of uncontrollable rage is climbing up her chest.] 

[Right now, walking down a hallway, saying nice words to servants, is the boy who haunts her nightmares.] 

[The boy who tracked them across continents.] 

[The boy who used her mother’s necklace to find them.]

[The boy who imprisoned them, fought them, attacked innocent people.]

[The boy who cried about his mother in the crystal caverns below Ba Sing Se, and then helped to end Aang’s life.]

[The angry, unstable, merciless boy who will become Fire Lord after his father.]

[She checks her timer. The eclipse will start any minute.]

[Katara makes up her mind. She runs down the hallway after Zuko.]

  
  
  


**Scene 11**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior: Toph walks down a hallway. An older maid appears.]

**Maid:** Boy! What are you doing here!?

[Toph freezes.]

**Maid:** We made it very clear to all of the new servants that you were  _ never _ to be seen in the public hallways. That right is for senior staff only. 

**Toph:** [low voice] Uhh, sorry. I guess I got lost. 

[The maid tsk-tsk’s over Toph’s appearance, not seeming to notice that she is blind. She puts a firm hand on Toph’s shoulder and steers her to a hidden door in the wall. The shot is identical to the vision Yue showed Aang, but now we can see whose hands are on Toph.]

**Maid:** Servants’ corridors are in there. Make sure it doesn’t happen again. 

[Inside the hidden passageway, Toph smiles.]

**Toph:** Thanks, lady. It’ll never happen again. 

  
  
  


**Scene 12**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior, guard changing room: Sokka enters. He is dressed in full armor, helmet included, while the other guards lounge in various states of undress. A female guard notices him and smirks.]

**Guard 1:** I know the handbook says to be ready at all times, but you don’t have to wear your helmet in here.

**Sokka:** Umm -- it’s okay. I have … a scar. It’s really embarrassing. 

**Guard 1:** More embarrassing than the prince’s?

[Sokka panics for a moment -- then all the guards crack up.]

**Guard 2:** Don’t worry about it, kid. Keep your helmet on, or don’t. Are you on the next shift?

**Sokka:** Yes. 

**Guard 1:** I thought Anzu was on. 

**Guard 2:** Do you see him anywhere? 

**Guard 1:** All right, all right. Let’s get going. Fire Lord’s not gonna be happy if his eclipse unit misses the damn eclipse.

[The guards move out, everyone now in full uniform and helmet. Sokka falls in with them. They each grab a spear as they leave the room.]

[After the unit moves out, another guard enters, looks around at the empty room, confused and anxious. This is presumably Anzu.]

**Anzu:** Umm, guys?

  
  
  


**Scene 13**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior: Fire Nation guards, with Sokka at the end, file towards the throne room. Sokka anxiously twists his hands on her spear. The approach the grand doors.]

**Guard 1:** Fall in!

[The guards stop abruptly, taking positions in front of the doors.]

**Sokka:** We’re not going inside? 

**Guard 2:** Were you briefed? 

**Sokka:** Uhh yeah, but like, what if there’s an attack? Shouldn’t we be with the Fire Lord?

**Guard 2:** They’ll have to get through the doors. 

[ Cut to : Toph, inside the servants corridors, only feet from Sokka. She smiles.]

[Toph pulls her timer out of her pocket and holds it up to her ear. The view changes to Toph’s “sight” -- black and gray, with rippling vibrations. The vibrations from the timer become quicker and quicker.]

[ Cut to : Katara. She peers around a corner. Zuko has finally stopped. He stands in front of a thick metal door with a huge circle handle -- like what might be found on a ship. He takes a deep breath and unsheathes his swords. Katara opens her water skins and pulls out two whips of water. Zuko and Katara match Aang’s vision. Then, before she can move, she hears the grinding of metal. Zuko has opened the door! She jumps into the hallway, but the door is already closing. She only hears one word from Zuko, before the door shuts.]

**Zuko:** Father… 

**Katara:** [realization dawning on her] No!

[The timer in her pocket begins to ring.]

[ Cut to : The moon crosses in front of the sun.]

[ Cut to : Sokka, standing in the line of guards. His timer also rings.]

**Guard 1:** Hey! What is that?

[Sokka sprints for the door.]

**Guard 2:** Stop!

[The guard reaches for him but stumbles. The metal in the floor has erupted and secured all of their feet to the ground. One guard tries to firebend at Sokka, but the flame peters out immediately. The metal doors of the throne room spring open, and Sokka rushes through, spear drawn. We zoom in on his expression. His eyes are narrowed, mouth set, he is determined. But then suddenly, his expression changes. His eyes widen in horror.]

**Sokka:** No!

**Azula:** [sitting on the throne] Yes.

[The final vision Yue showed Aang has come true -- Sokka facing off against Azula.]

[Toph punches through the metal wall.]

**Azula:** Ah, the blind one too. Good. Although, I was expecting the Avatar. Is he late? 

  
  
  


**Scene 14**

[Fire Nation Palace -- interior, secret bunker: Fire Lord Ozai sits in a small bunker, in a simple chair, drinking tea. Zuko enters, swords drawn. Ozai sets down his tea, outrage on his face.]

**Ozai:** Prince Zuko. What is the meaning of this?

**Zuko:** I’m here to tell the truth.

  
  


[Credits roll]


	7. S3:E7 -- The Day of Black Sun (pt. 2)

**Season 3: Episode 7 -- “Day of Black Sun: Part 2”**

  
  
  


**Scene 1**

[Fire Nation palace -- throne room: Azula sits on the throne. Sokka, armed with a spear and dressed as a Fire Nation soldier, stands opposite.]

**Sokka:** No!

**Azula:** Yes.

[Toph punches through the metal wall.]

**Azula:** Ah, the blind one too. Good. Although, I was expecting the Avatar. Is he late? 

**Sokka:** [overcoming his shock, lifting the spear higher] The Avatar is dead! You killed him. 

**Azula:** [thinks about it] I certainly thought so. And that girl, the waterbender, she cried so much I thought he must have died. But then I heard an interesting story. [She snaps her fingers]

[The soldier from the Fire Army contingent that attacked the air temple, the one who saw Aang, Rinchen, and Tashi airbending, steps out of the shadows.]

**Azula:** This is Shun. He was stationed at the Eastern Air Temple most recently. But something very curious happened, while he was there. He and his unit had apprehended two of the Avatar’s remaining companions. Water Tribe scum, you know the type. 

[Sokka grits his teeth.]

**Azula:** They’d been abandoned by their friends, a pair of earthbenders. I’ve always said the Earth Kingdom is full of cowards.

[Toph balls her fists.]

**Azula:** But wait! The story gets even more extraordinary. Before the captain could finish off the water prisoners, the temple came to life with the spirits of long dead airbenders, who sucked them off the mountain, sending them all the way over the cliffside, and depositing them harmlessly back on the ground. Unbelievable isn’t it? 

**Sokka:** Where is the Fire Lord? 

**Azula:** What? I’m not good enough. [Pouts] You’ll make a girl feel unwanted talking like that. 

**Sokka:** [advances] Tell us where he is. 

**Azula:** [examining her nails] Shun, take care of the invaders. 

[Shun’s mouth opens in shock.]

**Shun:** B-b-but miss, I don’t have my bending. 

**Azula:** [eyes narrow] Your princess is being threatened by forgein invaders. A true Fire Nation soldier doesn’t need bending. 

[Shun looks at her, realizes she is serious, and squares his shoulders. He rushes Toph and Sokka. Toph tips the floor he’s standing on with a wave of her hand, sending him crashing into the wall. He falls to the ground in a heap.]

**Azula:** That’s not very fair. Now it’s two to one. 

[Toph lowers her stance and moves her fists. The metal of the throne reaches out to imprison Azula -- who seems unconcerned.]

**Toph:** How’s that for unfair? Now tell us where your father is! And you’d better stick to the truth -- I’ll know if you’re lying. 

**Azula:** Really? I’m a pretty good liar. I am a four-hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings.

[Toph and Sokka exchange a look.]

**Toph:** [confidence shaken] That was a lie. Obviously. 

**Azula:** I’ll tell you the truth. Do you know what I found the most  _ unbelievable _ about Shun’s story? 

**Sokka:** We don’t care -- where is the Fire Lord? 

**Azula:** [continues as if Sokka had never spoken] That the spirits of long dead airbenders came back to life in order to save  _ you _ . They’ve been pretty quiet for the last one hundred years, but a nothing, motherless, pathetic excuse for a warrior from the nearly extinct Southern Water Tribe -- that, they come out for. 

[Sokka seethes with anger.]

**Azula:** It didn’t make sense. Neither did the two earthbenders leaving them behind, because the last time I checked, the Avatar only had three friends. So, to get back to your persistent questioning: Where is my father? Let’s exchange information. I’ll tell you where he is, if you tell me where the Avatar is.

  
  


  
**Scene 2**

[Fire Nation palace -- secret bunker: Zuko stands across from Ozai, swords drawn.]

**Ozai:** Prince Zuko. What is the meaning of this?

**Zuko:** I’m here to tell the truth.

[Ozai settles back into his chair. He steeples his fingers under his chin, as if he is very interested in what Zuko has to say.]

**Ozai:** The truth must be bad if you need an eclipse in order to say it. 

**Zuko:** Azula killed the Avatar. Not me. 

[Ozai’s face darkens.]

**Zuko:** She lied because there is a chance the Avatar is still alive. His waterbending companion is a powerful healer, with spirit water from the North Pole. 

**Ozai:** [deadly low voice] Get out. If you know what’s good for you. 

**Zuko:** No. I’m done letting you dictate my actions. I let Azula lie because I thought it would please you. I thought if you believed that I had killed the Avatar, you would accept me. You would love me. But I’ve started to realize -- I don’t want that kind of love. And you can’t give it anyway. 

**Ozai:** This is no way to speak to your father, to your Fire Lord!

[Ozai moves out of the chair, but Zuko levels a sword at him. Ozai slowly sits back down.]

  
  
  


**Scene 3**

[Fire Nation palace -- hallway outside the secret bunker: Katara tries to pull on the metal door but to no avail. She cups her ear against it, but can hear nothing. She backs up in frustration. The plan has gone out the window -- the Fire Lord isn’t where he’s supposed to be. He’s hidden down here, behind that door, and Katara is the only one who knows about it. She has to reach him.]

[She takes a step back and looks around. Above her, in the rough stone walls, is a pipe. She freezes a block of ice to stand on, and props herself. She puts one hand on the pipe and closes her eyes to concentrate. Yes -- she can feel the water running through it. She backs down, adopts a waterbending stance, and pushes her energy at the pipe. Shards of ice explode through the metal, opening a hole in the wall.]

  
  
  


**Scene 4**

[Fire Nation palace -- throne room: Azula is encased in her own throne, but seems unconcerned. Sokka and Toph stand at the edge of the throne room. Toph pulls Sokka to the side.]

**Toph:** She’s just wasting our time. She’s never going to tell us -- and the eclipse is ending soon. 

[Sokka’s shoulders hunch in frustration. He can’t handle this. This was supposed to be the day that ended the nightmare that has haunted his life for as long as he can remember. It was supposed to be him; he was supposed to be good enough. But he was outsmarted. Again.]

[His shoulder slump as he accepts the new reality.]

**Sokka:** You’re right. Let’s go. Katara’s probably waiting for us already. 

[Toph rips another hole in the hall. Before they move through, Azula interrupts again.]

**Azula:** Sokka! That’s your name. I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to remember. Sukka, Soku, Zukka -- but it’s Sokka. Spirits know how I forgot -- my favorite prisoner used to mention you  _ all the time _ . 

[Tears spring in Sokka’s eyes.]

**Azula:** Said your name in her sleep, even. I think she thought you would come rescue her. It must have hurt when you didn’t. 

**Toph:** Sokka -- no!

[Sokka rushes the throne. He wedges his spear under Azula’s chin.]

**Sokka:** Where is she? Where is Suki?!

  
  
  


**Scene 5**

[Fire Nation palace -- secret bunker: Zuko stands across from Ozai, swords drawn.]

**Zuko:** This family is full of lies -- and it’s spread out over our entire country. We were taught that the war was started in order to bring the greatness of the Fire Nation to the entire world. But the rest of the world lives in fear and despair. They hate us. 

**Ozai:** If their opinions upset you, then it confirms what I’ve always known. You’re weak! 

**Zuko:** And yet, you’ve been scared of me your whole life. 

**Ozai:** I will not stand for this insolence!

**Zuko:** But it’s true. You worried that I was a better fit for your prophecy, so you challenged a thirteen year old child to an Agni Kai. You banished me from my home and sent me on a hopeless quest. To hunt down and kill another boy -- who’d been gone for a hundred years. You hoped I’d never return, didn’t you? That way, you could twist your own daughter into your version of perfection, and have the prophecy all to yourself. 

You’ll have your wish. I’m leaving today. I’m going to start making up for everything our family has lied about -- starting with my mother. 

**Ozai:** [shakes his head slightly, composed] You must feel like a brave man, saying all of that to me. But you’re still the scared little boy I banished. I won’t make the same mistake again. This time when I get rid of you, it will be permanent. 

[ Cut to : Katara. She boosts herself up and through the hole, dropping into a dark storage room. Vaguely she can hear the sound of two men arguing. She pushes through the room to a door, which leads to another room, this one more well lit, with more supplies to last a siege. The door to this room is open. Through it, she can see Zuko. As she approaches, her view changes and she can see the Fire Lord as well. Before she can step out into the open, the timer in her pocket goes off again.]

  
  


**Scene 6**

[Fire Nation palace -- throne room: Sokka has Azula pinned down with a spear, Toph stands behind him.]

**Sokka:** Where is Suki!?

[Azula only smiles in response. Then, two timers begin ringing simultaneously. Azula cocks her head as an expression of horror grows on Sokka’s face. Azula smiles wider.]

[She spits fire at Sokka, forcing him to back off. Then, within the prison that the throne has become, she curls into a ball and explodes. The erupting fireball throws off her metal confines. When the light dies down, Azula has disappeared.]

**Azula:** [calls out from the other side of the room] Dad’s this way, if you still want to see him. [She opens a secret door and disappears.]

[Sokka charges after her.]

**Toph:** It’s a trap, Sokka! She knew we were coming, she had every move planned out. 

**Sokka:** I don’t care.

[He follows her down the secret corridor and Toph follows him.]

  
  
  


**Scene 7**

[Fire Nation palace -- secret bunker: Katara, still hidden in the storage room, holds the ringing timer. For a second, Zuko and Ozai are distracted, both looking for the source of the noise. Ozai realizes what it must mean first, and shoots twin fire fists at his son. Zuko is blasted backwards, into a stone wall, and crumples to the floor. He’s not unconscious, but stunned. He gropes for his swords.]

[Katara emerges from the supply room. The water from the busted pipe swirls around her. She shoots jet after jet of water at the Fire Lord, who is forced on the defensive.]

**Ozai:** Guards!

[From other doorways in the bunker, uniformed soldiers spill out. Katara sizes them up, then sets her expression in grim determination. This is the end. In the bowels of the royal palace, surrounded by enemies, with no allies coming -- she’ll only get one shot.]

[She lashes out a water whip, straight at the Fire Lord and freezes it in midair, so it is now a solid spear of ice, aimed right for his chest. It flies in slow motion. Guards try to shoot it down with fire, but each blast is too slow, just missing the projectile. Ozai stares at it in horror, unable to react.]

[At the last second, the icicle shatters, blown apart by lightning. Azula stands in one of the doorways, fingers smoking.]

[She smiles triumphantly, for a second, then her expression changes as she is knocked forward into the room. Toph and Sokka appear behind her. Sokka, Toph, and Katara take a moment to recognize one another.]

**Katara:** So you found the secret bunker too, huh?    
  


**Sokka:** Yup. 

**Toph:** Glad we’re all of the same page.

[The moment of stillness erupts. Fire surrounds the heroes on all sides, from the guards,  **Azula** , and the  **Fire Lord** .  **Toph** erects an earthen structure around them, then explodes it from within.  **Sokka** goes head to head with three soldiers, spear and boomerang versus firebending.  **Toph** tangles with the  **Fire Lord** (Ozai has chosen who he believes to be the weakest opponent).  **Toph** responds to his attacks, listening for his stances on the ground, and providing cover each time.  **Azula** and  **Katara** face off.  **Azula** is relentless, shooting blast after blast of blue flame in rapid succession.  **Katara** is forced on the defensive, without time to launch a counter attack. The kids hold their own, but they are hopelessly outnumbered. One of the guards snaps  **Sokka’s** spear, bringing him to the ground. 

[Holding his fist at point blank range in front of  **Sokka’s** face, another soldier shoots fire -- but it is dispersed. By  **Zuko** .  **Sokka** is shocked, but before he can say anything,  **Zuko** yanks him to his feet and throws him a sword. They stand back to back, hacking at the guards.  **Zuko** leaps over a soldier, as the soldier tries to sweep his legs and lands next to  **Toph** .  **Ozai** is outraged to see his son -- next to an earthbender, fighting with a sword, openly defying him.  **Ozai** directs his fury at  **Zuko** , which allows  **Toph** a moment to catch her breath. She brings her arms up and two of the metal armbands Katara got for her unsnap from her arms and circle like handcuffs around the Fire Lord’s wrists.  **Zuko** advances, but  **Toph** pushes him instead towards  **Katara** and  **Azula** . The two are incredibly evenly matched -- they’ll tear each other apart before either wins.]

[For a moment,  **Zuko** is stopped. Facing off against the guards, facing off against his own father, that was easier for him to face than choosing between  **Azula** and  **Katara** . Just like in Ba Sing Se, they stand opposite each other, hurling attacks in the small space. They pause when they notice him, standing to the side. Just like in Ba Sing Se. Both angle towards him, inviting him to join their side, preparing to take him down if he doesn’t. Unlike in Ba Sing Se,  **Zuko** doesn’t choose a side. He vaults into the middle, holding his sword out at  **Azula** and a fist at  **Katara** . Time pauses.]

[In the stand off,  **Azula** notices that, with all of the water  **Katara** has brought into the room, they are essentially standing in a giant puddle. She smiles, a wicked idea coming to mind. She reaches for lightning, meaning to direct it into the puddle and electrocute them all.  **Katara** follows her thinking and reacts, pulling all the water off the floor in a huge wave that knocks their opponents backwards.  **Katara** freezes the wave, separating herself,  **Sokka** , and  **Toph** from the Fire Nation.]

[Except  **Zuko** . He stands on their side as well.]

[The wall of ice is several feet thick and stretches seamlessly from floor to ceiling. The combatants stare at each other through the warped surface, all breathing heavily. It is a thick sheet of ice, but with all the fire power on the other side, it won’t provide cover for long. A team of firebenders working together, or a few blasts of lightning, and it will be gone. However, the attack doesn’t come. Both sides regard each other, catching their breath.  **Sokka, Katara, and Toph** flip their attention back and forth between the Fire Nation on the other side of the ice, and the fire prince on their side.]

[ **Azula** is the first to react, she steps forward to blast the wall of ice -- when she is smacked aside. She looks around for her attacker, fire blazing in both hands only to see it was her own  **father** . Her fire goes out. Suddenly she seems very small.]

**Ozai:** [to the guards, pointing at the wall of ice] Eliminate them! 

[He turns to face Azula as the guards begin melting the wall. Water begins sliding off in sheets.]

**Toph:** We gotta go.

**Sokka:** Yup. 

**Zuko:** I’ll cover you.

[Katara, Toph, and Sokka regard each other for a moment -- can they trust him? Each knows he just saved their lives, but there’s too much history to take his actions at face value.]

**Zuko:** Go!

[The three dash through the doorway leading back to the throne room, with Toph leading the way. Katara hesitates at the back of the group. She sees Zuko facing off against a battalion of soldiers. The ice cracks. Katara runs.]

[ Cut to : the other side of the ice, Ozai stands menacingly over Azula.]

**Ozai:** You lied to me. 

[Azula quakes. Literally. Have we ever seen her afraid before? Not truly, not like this. The right side of her face glows from the impact of her father’s hand.] 

**Azula:** No, Father, I would never. 

**Ozai:** What happened to the Avatar? 

**Azula:** He was killed! Under Ba Sing Se. I swear!

[Ozai smacks her again. She falls to the floor, sprawled on her back, breathing heavily.]

**Ozai:** You lied. To your father. To your Fire Lord.

**Azula:** [trembling] Father -- no. It was for Zuko -- for family. 

[Ozai lights up his hand, holding it threateningly above her. Azula closes her eyes and braces for the burn. She knows what it will feel like, she’s dreamt about it every night since it happened to her brother.]

[Then the heat is gone. Someone cries out in pain. Azula opens her eyes. Instead of Ozai standing over her, it is Zuko, with blood dripping off his sword.]

[Ozai lays to the side, moaning in agony, staring in horror at his arm, that seconds ago ended in a glowing fist, and now ends in a bleeding stump.]

[Azula takes in the scene. Her father on the ground, laid low. Her brother, towering above her. Zuko drops his sword and offers Azula his hand.]

[Azula looks once more at her father, once more at her brother with his outstretched hand -- and blasts Zuko with lightning.]

[The blast throws him back several meters, but he is able to stay on his feet. Lightning swirls around his body, his face contorts with pain. Slowly, working through the pain, he manages to point both arms skyward. The lightning shoots out of his body, seeming to grow in strength, and blasts through the roof of the bunker, through the floors above it, out into open sky.] 

[ Cut to : Fire Nation Palace -- exterior: lightning shoots out of the back portion. A sky bison flies across the camera view.]

[ Cut to : Toph, Sokka, and Katara, running through the underground corridors -- Toph leads the way. The explosion rocks the palace. Stone falls from the ceiling. Only Toph’s reflexes save them. She halts and launches herself backwards, using the force of the explosion and earthbending to get them out of harm’s reach. As they pick themselves up, Toph remains on the ground, clutching her ankle.]

**Katara:** Toph!

[Katara pulls water from her pouch, but Sokka pushes her off.]

**Sokka:** There’s no time!

[Sokka hoists Toph onto his shoulder and begins running back the way they came, still holding Zuko’s sword in his other hand.]

  
  
  


**Scene 8**

[Fire Nation palace -- secret bunker: Rock falls from the cavern ceiling, a giant hole opened up letting in daylight. Azula and Zuko stand opposite, both breathing heavily. Smoke streams off Zuko’s robes. Neither is quite sure what to do next. Ozai is on the floor, nearly unconscious with pain. He points at Zuko with fury.]

**Ozai:** End him! [He collapses.]

[Azula prepares for another bolt of lightning.]

**Zuko:** You don’t have to do this. He’s using you!

[Even as he speaks, Zuko braces himself to redirect lightning again.]

**Azula:** Stop! [Her voice is frayed and shrill] Stop, stop, stop! You’re a traitor and you always have been! I never should have brought you home! You attacked  _ our father! _

[Before she can shoot, the cavern fills with blinding light. The siblings look up to see the Avatar descending through the open hole in a ball of wind. His eyes and tattoos glow with the power of the Avatar state, and his chest glows too -- he has taken the moonstone Yue gave him and hung it around his neck. The siblings are knocked to the ground.] 

[In the Avatar state, Aang surveys the scene. Azula and Zuko at each other’s throats, Ozai lying on the ground, guards surrounding the periphery.]

[Aang raises his hand and the guards are blown backwards, through the hallways they emerged from.]

[Azula’s shoulders shake and her eyes become more furious. She shoots at Zuko, and misses. The force of her own frenzied attack brings her to all fours.]

**Azula:** You were working with the Avatar the whole time!

[With a twist of his hand, Aang sinks Azula’s feet and hands into the earth. He turns to Zuko. Zuko kneels on the floor.]

**Zuko:** Avatar. 

[Aang steps around him to the Fire Lord. Aang grabs Ozai by his collar. Ozai lolls lifelessly in Aang’s grasp, still unconscious, still bleeding. Aang holds him up, a concentrated fire blast in his other hand like a knife.]

**Katara:** Aang!

[Katara, Sokka, and Toph have emerged from the doorway again. Even with glowing eyes and tattoos, Aang smiles at them.]

[Then the world erupts again.] 

[The entire frame is taken up by flicking, blue and white light. This didn’t come from Aang. This didn’t come from the power of the Avatar State. This is ferocious and angry and unhinged. This came from Azula.]

[When the lightning explosion subsides, Azula is alone. The cavern is completely open to the sky. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Ozai, and Zuko are all gone. Azula is in a smoking crater, freed from the earth, but exhausted. Are they dead? Have they been disintegrated? She pulls herself over the lip of the crater. A shadow passes over her, through the gaping hole in the ceiling.]

[It’s one sky bison -- or two? She screams in rage as they fly away.]

  
  
  


**Scene 9**

[The sky -- two bison (Appa and Chorri) race away from the Fire Nation. The kids are spread out between the two. On Appa: Aang, Fire Lord Ozai (who is unconscious), Sokka, and Rinchen (at the reins). On Chorri: Katara, Toph, and Tashi (at the reins). The camera focuses on Appa first.]

[Sokka leans over the side and rubs Appa’s side. Appa groans appreciatively.]

**Sokka:** I missed ya, buddy!

[Aang and Sokka nervously regard each other -- then spring into a hug.]

**Sokka:** I missed you too. 

**Aang:** I’m so sorry, Sokka. I shouldn’t have left you to do that by yourselves. 

**Sokka:** Hey, you came at the exact right moment. We got the Fire Lord!

[Sokka leaps up excitedly, forgetting he is hundreds of feet in the air on a moving bison. He disappears over the side. Rinchen dives off Appa’s head with his glider and returns a moment later, Sokka clutching his waist.]

**Sokka:** Umm -- thank you. What was your name again? 

**Rinchen:** Rinchen. 

**Sokka:** Right. We’re not gonna tell anyone about this, Rinchen. 

**Rinchen:** Sounds good to me! 

[Ozai groans and shifts in the saddle, but does not wake up. All three regard him. Then Aang pulls out linens from the saddle and starts tying a tourniquet around Ozai’s arm.]

**Sokka:** What are you doing? Let’s just drop him overboard!

**Rinchen:** You didn’t kill him. 

[Aang ignores them both and continues attending the Fire Lord.]

[ Cut to : Chorri. Katara bends water around Toph’s broken ankle. Toph sighs in relief.]

**Toph:** That’s better. I think when this is all over, you’ll have healed every part of my body. 

[Katara squeezes Toph’s shoulder affectionately.]

**Katara:** Twice. 

**Tashi:** [over her shoulder] Feeling better?

[Toph’s eye widens in surprise and she gasps.]

**Toph:** Don’t  _ do  _ that! You know I can’t see on these furry monsters. 

**Tashi:** [Reaching down to stroke Chorri’s head] Aww, the mean earthbender didn’t mean that. You’re not a monster, girl. 

[Chorri roars in response.]

[Katara and Toph crawl up to the front to speak with Tashi.]

**Katara:** Umm, thanks, for coming to get us.

**Tashi:** No problem. 

**Katara:** I’m -- uhh -- I’m sorry I yelled at you the last time I saw you. 

**Tashi:** [cheerfully] No, you’re not! And that’s okay. I  _ was  _ being a coward. We all were. But we made up to you, didn’t we? 

**Katara:** [smiling, she likes this girl] I guess you did. 

**Toph:** Umm -- where are we going? Is there anyone chasing us? A little consideration for the blind! 

**Tashi:** We are over open waters in clear skies, headed somewhere they can’t find us. 

**Toph:** I’ve heard that before. 

**Tashi:** Don’t worry, One-Eyed Wonder. I’ll keep you safe. 

**Toph:** [blushes] Umm, nicknames are kind of my thing, Lightweight. 

**Tashi:** Don’t worry, I’ll find one that sticks. 

[Katara giggles behind her hand.]

  
  
  


**Scene 10**

[Western Air Temple. The Western Air Temple hangs like upside down pagodas from cliffs that are so high, it is impossible to see the bottom. The only way one could possibly access the temple is by air. Chorri and Appa touch down on one of the lower courtyards, where some of the other air nomads are. Sokka hops off Appa first, and angrily storms over to Katara.]

**Sokka:** He’s not killing the Fire Lord!

[Behind Sokka, Aang and Rinchen work together to lift Ozai to the ground. Aang still wears the glowing moonstone.]

**Katara:** What? 

[Tashi and Toph dismount.]

**Toph:** What’s going on? 

**Sokka:** We went through all of that -- and he’s not going to do it! [Turns to Aang] If it really bothers you so much, I’ll do it! [Sokka unsheathes his boomerang.] 

**Aang:** No, Sokka. It’s not just about killing. 

[Sokka’s yells have attracted some of the nomads, who come to see what’s going on.]

**Aang:** This is about finding a solution that brings peace. If I had killed the Fire Lord, Azula or Zuko would be in charge and the war would continue. 

**Sokka:** Azula and Zuko are in charge right now!

**Aang:** But we have their father. We have a hostage. 

**Sokka:** You can not be serious. 

**Aang:** I am. 

[Sokka’s next remark is interrupted by the arrival of Dorje, who storms into the group, even more angry and upset than Sokka.]

**Dorje:** What is the meaning of this, Avatar?!

**Aang:** [respectfully but firmly] Dorje, I’m sorry I didn’t consult you. I made my decision quickly today, and had to leave. 

**Dorje:** I expose my people to outsiders for the first time in a hundred years, welcome you into our tribe as a brother -- and this is how you repay me! You take my children into the heart of the Fire Nation and bring a dangerous enemy back to our camp!

[Rinchen hangs his head, but Tashi, still standing next to Toph, faces him head on.]

**Dorje:** This is inexcusable. You are no longer welcome among us. Tashi, Rinchen, we’re packing up and leaving. You have a lot to answer for. Come along. 

[Rinchen glances sadly at Aang, but seems to follow Dorje’s commands. He pauses, however, when Tashi speaks.]

**Tashi:** No. 

[Dorje glares at his daughter.]

**Dorje:** Up to our rooms. Now. 

**Tashi:** No. Aang is trying to do the right thing. He’s trying to end the war that destroyed our people. We should help him. 

**Dorje:** Fighting and killing is not what we do. 

**Tashi:** It’s not what Aang wants to do either! But he has to think about more than just himself. And it’s time we did too. 

**Dorje:** [overcome with anger and fear and guilt] Rinchen, come. 

**Rinchen:** [shakes his head, deep in thought] I think Tashi’s right. We can’t hide anymore. It’s not fair. 

**Dorje:** You’re both young. I understand your passion. When you’re older, you’ll understand that I’m doing what’s best for our people. 

**Tashi:** But what about everyone else? What about the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom? They live in fear that the Fire Nation will wipe them off the Earth, just like they did the Air Nation. The Fire Nation thinks they have the power. We have to show them that they’re wrong! We have to show them that we’re still here. 

[Tears brim in Dorje’s eyes. Katara steps forward.]

**Katara:** I can’t tell you what to do for your people, but when the Avatar returned, hope spread over the planet. People who had resigned themselves to the Fire Nation’s tyranny found a reason to fight back. It gave them hope. 

[Dorje turns away.]

[Aang steps forward and puts a hand on Tashi’s shoulder.]

**Aang:** [softly] It’s okay. We’ll go. 

**Tashi:** [also with tears in her eyes] I’m coming with you. 

**Aang:** I don’t want to take you away from your family. 

**Dorje:** You think I would ever abandon my daughter? 

[His question startles everyone.]

**Dorje:** It seems the world has truly forgotten about the airbenders. We don’t let disputes rip us apart. [He looks at the assembled group.] Come, everyone. Two of our youngest make a strong argument. We must discuss, as we have always done, and we will decide as a group.

[The airbenders move together, back to their camp.]

**Tashi:** [grinning and crying] Really? 

**Dorje:** [placing a hand on her shoulder] Yes. You have your tattoos, you have the right to speak. [He looks over at Aang.] And you, Aang, you are one of us too. I’m sorry I let my temper get away from me. 

**Aang:** Thank you, but you guys go. [He glances at Katara, Sokka, and Toph.] My tribe’s over there. 

[They smile. Then Sokka immediately folds his arms over his chest.]

**Sokka:** And we’ve got some collaborative decision-making to do as well. 

[Aang smiles and moves over to them. The camera pulls back, showing the setting sun and full moon shining brightly. We can hear the kids squabble as the camera moves away.]

**Katara:** Sokka! Can’t we just have a nice moment? 

**Toph:** We barely escaped a crazy lightning bender with our lives --  _ all  _ of these moments are nice. 

**Aang:** I really missed you guys. 

[Credits roll.]

  
  



End file.
